Watch: The best looks from the Venice red carpet so far

Actor Julia Roberts makes her Venice Film Festival debut promoting her new movie After The Hunt.

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Purgatory, tied to online community The Com, claims responsibility for swatting attacks on US universities, airports, and more, charging $20 to $95 per incident (David Gilbert/Wired)

David Gilbert / Wired:
Purgatory, tied to online community The Com, claims responsibility for swatting attacks on US universities, airports, and more, charging $20 to $95 per incident  —  WIRED spoke to a self-proclaimed leader of an online group called Purgatory, which charged as little as $20 to call in fake threats against schools.

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Kim meets families of North Korea soldiers killed fighting in Ukraine

The North Korean leader met the families of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine.

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Why has Kamala Harris' security detail been withdrawn?

The overstretched Secret Service is required to provide 6 months of protection to former vice-presidents.

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Mastodon says it does not "have the means to apply age verification" to its services and it's up to server admins to observe local laws in places they operate (Sarah Perez/TechCrunch)

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Mastodon says it does not “have the means to apply age verification” to its services and it's up to server admins to observe local laws in places they operate  —  Decentralized social network Mastodon says it can't comply with Mississippi's age verification law …

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InstaLILY, whose industry-specific AI agents called InstaWorkers integrate with legacy systems, raised $25M from Insight Partners (Mike Wheatley/SiliconANGLE)

Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE:
InstaLILY, whose industry-specific AI agents called InstaWorkers integrate with legacy systems, raised $25M from Insight Partners  —  InstaLILY Inc. said today it has raised $25 million exclusively from Insight Partners to fuel the growth of industry vertical-specific “AI Teammates” …

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OpenAI makes Realtime API generally available with new features, including MCP support, and launches gpt-realtime, its most advanced speech-to-speech model (Sabrina Ortiz/ZDNET)

Sabrina Ortiz / ZDNET:
OpenAI makes Realtime API generally available with new features, including MCP support, and launches gpt-realtime, its most advanced speech-to-speech model  —  Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.  —  ZDNET's key takeaways  — OpenAI's Realtime API is now optimized and generally available.

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Watch: How the Catholic school shooting unfolded in Minneapolis

Two children, aged eight and 10, have been killed and 17 other people injured following a shooting during Mass.

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Report: German banks blocked €10B+ in PayPal payments on Monday over fraud concerns; PayPal says a temporary service interruption affected some transactions (Reuters)

Reuters:
Report: German banks blocked €10B+ in PayPal payments on Monday over fraud concerns; PayPal says a temporary service interruption affected some transactions  —  German banks blocked PayPal (PYPL.O) payments totalling more than 10 billion euros ($11.7 billion) over fraud concerns …

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South African influencer apologises over viral Russian job videos

There has been a backlash over the recruitment scheme and a government warning to young people.

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Google DeepMind's Weather Lab, launched in June, showed superior accuracy in forecasting Hurricane Erin's path up to 72 hours ahead, beating traditional models (Eric Berger/Ars Technica)

Eric Berger / Ars Technica:
Google DeepMind's Weather Lab, launched in June, showed superior accuracy in forecasting Hurricane Erin's path up to 72 hours ahead, beating traditional models  —  In early June, shortly after the beginning of the Atlantic hurricane season, Google unveiled a new model designed specifically …

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Bruce Willis' wife Emma says he is in great health but brain is failing

The Die Hard star's partner also says she hopes to advocate for fellow carers in her new book.

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Intel has partnerships with multiple Chinese surveillance companies sanctioned by the US for enabling human rights abuses, including Uniview and Hikvision (Emily Baker-White/Forbes)

Emily Baker-White / Forbes:
Intel has partnerships with multiple Chinese surveillance companies sanctioned by the US for enabling human rights abuses, including Uniview and Hikvision  —  The U.S. government will take a 10% stake in the company, whose technology has been used by sanctioned Chinese surveillance …

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Filing: Intel warns the US taking a 10% stake could trigger "adverse reactions", including in international sales, which made up 76% of revenue last fiscal year (Chris Eudaily/CNBC)

Chris Eudaily / CNBC:
Filing: Intel warns the US taking a 10% stake could trigger “adverse reactions”, including in international sales, which made up 76% of revenue last fiscal year  —  Intel on Monday warned of “adverse reactions” from investors, employees and others to the Trump administration taking …

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Mexico cartel leader 'El Mayo' enters guilty plea

Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada was arrested in July 2024, and is due to be sentenced in the coming months.

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Sources: the Trump administration is considering imposing sanctions on EU or member state officials responsible for implementing the EU's DSA (Humeyra Pamuk/Reuters)

Humeyra Pamuk / Reuters:
Sources: the Trump administration is considering imposing sanctions on EU or member state officials responsible for implementing the EU's DSA  —  President Donald Trump's administration is considering imposing sanctions on European Union or member state officials responsible for implementing …

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Google plans to begin verifying the identity of all developers who distribute apps on Android, even if it's outside the Play Store, starting September 2026 (Mishaal Rahman/Android Authority)

Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority:
Google plans to begin verifying the identity of all developers who distribute apps on Android, even if it's outside the Play Store, starting September 2026  —  Google wants to verify the identity of all developers who distribute apps on Android, even if it's outside the Play Store

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More than 30 jihadists killed in air strikes, Nigerian military says

Concern is mounting about "war-time levels of slaughter" in Nigeria, including a resurgence of jihadist activity.

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Researchers detail an indirect prompt injection flaw in Perplexity's Comet AI browser, letting attackers manipulate it into performing unauthorized actions (Brave)

Brave:
Researchers detail an indirect prompt injection flaw in Perplexity's Comet AI browser, letting attackers manipulate it into performing unauthorized actions  —  The threat of instruction injection  —  At Brave, we're developing the ability for our in-browser AI assistant Leo to browse the Web on your behalf, acting as your agent.

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How Spotify's Discovery Mode has become the new normal in music marketing, five years after its 2020 launch when it faced a backlash and "payola" accusations (Ashley Carman/Bloomberg)

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
How Spotify's Discovery Mode has become the new normal in music marketing, five years after its 2020 launch when it faced a backlash and “payola” accusations  —  Spotify's Discovery Mode allows rightsholders to boost their songs in exchange for a lower royalty rate.  Most everyone is using it.

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Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, named by Trump as the first US chief design officer, says he wants to update federal websites to an "Apple Store-like experience" (Mike Allen/Axios)

Mike Allen / Axios:
Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, named by Trump as the first US chief design officer, says he wants to update federal websites to an “Apple Store-like experience”  —  Joe Gebbia — a co-founder of Airbnb who was named by President Trump this week to be the first U.S. chief design officer …

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What did Erik and Lyle Menendez do and when could they be released?

Lyle and Erik Menendez have been denied release by separate parole boards this week.

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Some lawyers and bankers say the Intel deal may face legal challenges as the CHIPS Act may not allow the US government to convert grants into equity (New York Times)

New York Times:
Some lawyers and bankers say the Intel deal may face legal challenges as the CHIPS Act may not allow the US government to convert grants into equity  —  The deal is among the largest government interventions in a U.S. company since the rescue of the auto industry after the 2008 financial crisis.

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Ontic, whose software helps corporate security teams respond to physical threats, raised a $230M Series C led by KKR, following a $40M Series B in November 2021 (Reuters)

Reuters:
Ontic, whose software helps corporate security teams respond to physical threats, raised a $230M Series C led by KKR, following a $40M Series B in November 2021  —  Corporate security software firm Ontic has raised $230 million in a funding round led by alternate investment juggernaut KKR …

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Cloud security provider Netskope files for a US IPO, reports H1 FY 2026 revenue up 30.7% YoY to $328.5M; it is seeking to raise $500M+ at a $5B+ valuation (Arasu Kannagi Basil/Reuters)

Arasu Kannagi Basil / Reuters:
Cloud security provider Netskope files for a US IPO, reports H1 FY 2026 revenue up 30.7% YoY to $328.5M; it is seeking to raise $500M+ at a $5B+ valuation  —  Netskope's revenue surged 30.7% in the first half of fiscal year 2026, the cybersecurity firm disclosed on Friday in its U.S. initial public offering paperwork.

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Google says the median Gemini app text prompt consumes 0.24Wh of energy, about the same as running a microwave for a second, and emits 0.03g of CO2 equivalent (Casey Crownhart/MIT Technology Review)

Casey Crownhart / MIT Technology Review:
Google says the median Gemini app text prompt consumes 0.24Wh of energy, about the same as running a microwave for a second, and emits 0.03g of CO2 equivalent  —  Google has just released a technical report detailing how much energy its Gemini apps use for each query.

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Sources: Anthropic is in talks to raise $10B, significantly above the previously reported $5B, due to strong investor demand (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: Anthropic is in talks to raise $10B, significantly above the previously reported $5B, due to strong investor demand  —  Anthropic is nearing a deal to raise as much as $10 billion in a new round of funding, according to people familiar with the matter, a higher than expected sum …

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Why Donetsk matters so much for Ukraine's defences

For Ukraine to lose western Donetsk would mean the fall of a bulwark against any future Russian advance.

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Robinhood, in partnership with Kalshi, launches a sports prediction market on Robinhood Derivatives, letting users trade on pro and college football games (RT Watson/The Block)

RT Watson / The Block:
Robinhood, in partnership with Kalshi, launches a sports prediction market on Robinhood Derivatives, letting users trade on pro and college football games  —  Start trading crypto Get a crypto rewards card  — Robinhood, the popular stock and crypto trading app, is launching a pro …

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Texas AG Ken Paxton launches a probe into Meta and Character.AI over claims they deceptively market chatbots as mental health tools, including for children (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Texas AG Ken Paxton launches a probe into Meta and Character.AI over claims they deceptively market chatbots as mental health tools, including for children  —  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into both Meta AI Studio and Character.AI for “potentially engaging …

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BBC at Rafah crossing as queues of aid trucks wait to enter Gaza

The BBC's Chief International Correspondent Lyse Doucet is travelling with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa and Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.

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'No-one was expecting this': European leaders rush to US to help Ukraine avoid 'capitulation'

The heads of state hope to stop Trump from threatening long-term European security, writes James Landale.

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Sources: Anthropic asked Menlo to use the VC firm's own capital for investment in the startup and not an SPV, as Menlo did in a previous funding round (Ben Bergman/Business Insider)

Ben Bergman / Business Insider:
Sources: Anthropic asked Menlo to use the VC firm's own capital for investment in the startup and not an SPV, as Menlo did in a previous funding round  —  - Anthropic is raising about $5 billion at a $170 billion valuation, BI confirmed.  — The AI startup is being picky about the types …

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Three Republican-led states to send National Guard troops to DC

Washington residents have protested against Trump's deployment of troops in the city.

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Interview with Trent Brunson, R&D director at cybersecurity firm Trail of Bits, which won $3M and 2nd place in DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge, behind Team Atlanta (Patrick Howell O'Neill/Bloomberg)

Patrick Howell O'Neill / Bloomberg:
Interview with Trent Brunson, R&D director at cybersecurity firm Trail of Bits, which won $3M and 2nd place in DARPA's AI Cyber Challenge, behind Team Atlanta  —  Last week, the Pentagon's long AI Cyber Challenge, or AIxCC, came to a head onstage in Las Vegas.

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How Chinese streaming giants iQiyi and Tencent are gaining on Netflix in Southeast Asia through original productions and free, ad-supported services (Nikkei Asia)

Nikkei Asia:
How Chinese streaming giants iQiyi and Tencent are gaining on Netflix in Southeast Asia through original productions and free, ad-supported services  —  BANGKOK/SHANGHAI — Chinese streaming services are catching up with American rivals in the Southeast Asian market, with giants iQiyi …

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Macron condemns 'act of hatred' after tree memorial for murdered Jew is cut down

The French president said the felling of the tree honouring Ilan Halimi was "an attempt to kill him a second time".

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Gazan woman flown to Italy dies of malnutrition

The woman was one of 180 Gazans evacuated by Italy in response to the humanitarian crisis

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How an editor uncovered the "largest self-promotion operation in Wikipedia's history" that promoted obscure composer David Woodard with entries in 335 languages (Nate Anderson/Ars Technica)

Nate Anderson / Ars Technica:
How an editor uncovered the “largest self-promotion operation in Wikipedia's history” that promoted obscure composer David Woodard with entries in 335 languages  —  Quick—what are the top entries in the category “Wikipedia articles written in the greatest number of languages”?

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Sen. Josh Hawley launches a probe of Meta following a report on its AI policy allowing sensual chats with kids, tells Zuckerberg to produce docs by September 19 (Jonathan Vanian/CNBC)

Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
Sen. Josh Hawley launches a probe of Meta following a report on its AI policy allowing sensual chats with kids, tells Zuckerberg to produce docs by September 19  —  Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said Friday that he will investigate Meta following a report that the company approved rules allowing …

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Researchers say they used generative AI algorithms to design novel antibiotics targeting drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae and MRSA (Anne Trafton/MIT News)

Anne Trafton / MIT News:
Researchers say they used generative AI algorithms to design novel antibiotics targeting drug-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae and MRSA  —  The team used two different AI approaches to design novel antibiotics, including one that showed promise against MRSA.  —  PRESS INQUIRIES

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Anthropic updates Claude usage policy, adding stricter cybersecurity rules and explicitly banning the development of WMDs, and loosens political content rules (Emma Roth/The Verge)

Emma Roth / The Verge:
Anthropic updates Claude usage policy, adding stricter cybersecurity rules and explicitly banning the development of WMDs, and loosens political content rules  —  The AI startup's new policy now specifically bans using Claude to help develop biological, chemical, radiological, or nuclear weapons.

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