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Submission + - US appeals court upholds Pentagon's supply chain risk label on Anthropic (cnbc.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes:
  • A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., upheld the Pentagon’s blacklisting of Anthropic.
  • The DoW labeled Anthropic a supply chain risk in March, and Anthropic sued the Trump administration in an effort to undo that action.
  • The designation prevents the U.S. military from using Anthropic’s models and blocks defense contractors from using them in their work with the agency.
  • “We remain confident in our position and are considering all options, including further review,” an Anthropic spokesperson said in a statement.

Submission + - New UK PM to set up 'Ministry of Truth,' sparking free speech row (telegraph.co.uk)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Fears were mounting on Wednesday that Labour would use a new disinformation unit, dubbed a 'Ministry of Truth' by critics, to 'silence dissent' amongst Britons criticising the Government.

This comes after the PM revealed plans for a 'National Centre for Information Defence' to tackle online disinformation at a United Nations (UN) gathering on Tuesday.

Silkie Carlo, the director of civil liberties group Big Brother Watch claimed that similar Government units have led to free speech being curtailed in Britain.

In a statement, she said: 'We have already seen the mantle of countering 'disinformation' being abused by our Government in attempts to malign and silence dissent.'

Submission + - Trump signs trilateral security agreement with Denmark and Greenland (apnews.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The announced terms include: a larger U.S. military presence and a build permit; a ban on non-NATO bases or military presence; full flyover rights; continued effect after a future Greenlandic independence; and a U.S. approval right over sensitive Russian or Chinese investments.

Submission + - Samsung to invest up to $100 million in Oak Ridge nuclear plant (wate.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: “Kairos broke ground on the Hermes 2 plant in April. It is the first power-producing Generation IV reactor to get a United States construction permit. In August, Kairos announced a deal with Google and the Tennessee Valley Authority as well as plans to train East Tennesseans to join the nuclear workforce.”

Submission + - The 'Anti-AI' Panic Is Led by...AI Companies (hotair.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: What we are seeing is a massive, pretty obviously coordinated campaign by AI researchers, companies, NGOs, and politicians to strangle competition in an industry and, as I will show, save the financial bacon of the top AI companies that are vastly overextended financially because they have made contractual commitments that they simply have no prospect of paying for.

Submission + - New York City Forced to Release 170,000 Pages Exposing 9/11 Toxic Air Deception (nytimes.com)

Submitted by schwit1
schwit1 writes: New York City has been forced to release more than 170,000 pages of documents exposing how government officials assured Americans that the air around Ground Zero was safe despite evidence showing dangerous contaminants remained in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The massive document release comes 25 years after thousands of first responders, workers, residents, and others were exposed to the toxic cloud that engulfed Lower Manhattan following the collapse of the World Trade Center.

The records show officials had information indicating troubling levels of asbestos and other hazardous contaminants while the public was being reassured about the safety of the air.

The documents are now being released after transparency organization 9/11 Health Watch sued New York City to force their disclosure.

The revelations come as people exposed to the toxic aftermath continue to suffer and die from cancers, respiratory illnesses, heart disease, and other conditions decades later.

The newly disclosed records contain evidence of hazardous conditions extending beyond the immediate footprint of the Twin Towers.

In November 2001 an audit was prepared by a private company and submitted to the Environmental Protection Agency that relied on information collected by New York City and state agencies.

The findings raised serious concerns.

“That audit demonstrated that air concentration of the carcinogen benzene was still spiking near the towers’ footprint, and that the concentration of asbestos in the air at the Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island had increased after the attacks,” the New York Times reported.

The records also show higher-than-acceptable levels of asbestos and other contaminants in dust and air elsewhere in Lower Manhattan.

Yet Americans were being told something very different.

Officials Told the Public the Air Was ‘Safe’

Submission + - Disconnect your LG television from the internet, now (appleinsider.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Smart televisions have a history of being a privacy problem for users. Repeated reports have surfaced over the years about them logging how you use the television, as well as misusing sensors intended to monitor the viewers.

In a September investigation by Gamers Nexus posted to YouTube, LG's smart TVs still continue to be a privacy nightmare. It's pretty bad, given that some models are capable of eavesdropping on your conversations.

Working with security researchers and Level1Techs, the lengthy video put LG OLED televisions under a microscope. Using various tools, including capturing packets with Wireshark, it was found to be conducting a wide array of actions that disregard user privacy, and then sending that data back to LG.

Submission + - Trump reveals new Space Force uniforms inspired by 'Starship Troopers' (nypost.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: People on social media were quick to quip that the uniforms were also reminiscent of the Imperial officers in Star Wars.

“SWEET your [sic] going galactic empire! Let the Force be with you lol!” one person joked.

“Looking a whole like like Stars Wars Imperial Army Officer uniform,” another agreed.

Submission + - Open-Weight Diplomacy: How China's AI Models Are Rerunning the Digital Silk Road (lawfaremedia.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: China’s open-weight AI models are sparking debates that echo the concerns the telecom buildout raised: How does the majority world access an indispensable technology without surrendering sovereignty, or in other words, without trading access today for dependency tomorrow?

China’s playbook appears virtually identical to its telecom strategy. Its AI buildout involves many of the same companies, the same countries, and the same vocabulary as its broadband strategy. And open weights play the role subsidized equipment once did: They are the keystone to an indispensable new technology that one country can provide to another virtually for free to get a foot in the door, but they are also useless without the intricate, interconnected stack of other components that, conveniently, are far more expensive.

Submission + - Former Obama Official-It's Time To Consider Military Strikes on CCP Data Centers (scmp.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The United States should start preparing for scenarios where extreme measures must be taken to stop China from achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), according to a former White House official, including state-backed espionage and military strikes on Chinese data centres.

Jacob Stokes, deputy director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Centre for a New American Security (CNAS), said at an online event on Thursday that various US agencies, including the Department of Defense and the National Security Agency, should begin assessing what intelligence they need to justify taking such actions.

“Trying to think through the particulars of that will be especially important, in part because it will help policymakers start to work backwards based on the unique nature of the technology, in the same way that in a past era, policymakers would learn about nuclear weapons and work backwards from the science to the policy implications,” he said.

In a new CNAS report published last week, the former Obama administration national security staffer called for the US government to consider the feasibility of diplomatic, espionage, cyber and kinetic measures to prevent China from achieving AGI first.

Submission + - Do Data Centers Raise your Electricity Bill? Evidence from U.S. States (ssrn.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: "we find no statistically significant evidence that data-center presence, installed capacity, or capacity expansion predicts residential electricity-price inflation"

"Consequently, gross datacenter electricity consumption need not translate one-for-one into net pressure on residential electricity supply."

Submission + - New York regulator orders X Money to STOP paying 6% interest to New Yorkers (x.com)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: The Department of Financial Services told X Payments LLC it cannot pay interest on stored-value accounts for New York customers, effective October 1, 2026, affecting balances at partner banks. X is offering a $300 direct deposit bonus to eligible users who keep up activity, while working to resolve the issue. The move has drawn criticism online, with some seeing it as protection for traditional banks or politically driven, amid X's push into financial services without a New York money transmitter license.

Submission + - 'Supercharged' Greening in African Savannah: CO2 Brings Boost to Grass Growth (dailysceptic.org)

Submitted by Anonymous Coward
An anonymous reader writes: Global greening is being supercharged in the African savannah, new research published in Nature has found, with higher CO2 levels driving a 28% increase in plant growth in just 32 years.

More evidence of global greening from carbon dioxide fertilisation has been published in the prestigious publication Nature . The research involved 70 experiments and three decades of field data from many locations in the savannah of South Africa's Kruger National Park. The international scientific team was led by Dr Kimberley Simpson of the University of Sheffield, the paper entitled 'Increasing CO2 levels fertilise C4 grass production'. Phys.org reported the study as follows: 'Rising carbon dioxide is supercharging grass growth in African savannas, study finds.' The latest study challenges the previously held view that the dominant grasses in the savannah (known as 'C4') benefit little from rising levels of carbon dioxide.

African savannah covers approximately half of the great continent and sustains a vast habitat for wildlife across tropical and sub-tropical regions. Globally, savannah grassland covers about 20% of Earth's land surface, and contributes nearly one-third of plant productivity. C4 grasses form a major part of these ecosystems in hot climates; they utilise a more complex form of photosynthesis which allows them to thrive in harsher conditions where hotter and sunnier conditions prevail. These grasses are able to retain water and capture carbon dioxide more efficiently than other types of plants. C4 grasses include both wild grasses and important crops such as maize and sugarcane.

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