In our Nvidia-state, is Jensen Huang is too big to fail?

In our Nvidia-state, is Jensen Huang is too big to fail?

Charlie Warzel writes: Given the obsession over the AI race between the United States and China, you might imagine that news of the man leading the most important company in AI being caught in an extramarital relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy would spark outrage and excoriation without parallel. You could suppose that such reckless behavior, upon discovery, might lead to widespread calls for immediate resignation and for deep investigation—not just of the executive, but the…

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Despite denial, Trump was told on trip to China about spying on Nvidia CEO

Despite denial, Trump was told on trip to China about spying on Nvidia CEO

The New York Times reports: President Trump was told aboard Air Force One in May en route to China that the United States had obtained sensitive intelligence showing that Nvidia’s chief executive was in a relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy, people with knowledge of the matter said. The message was delivered by Marco Rubio, his secretary of state and national security adviser, shortly before the Nvidia leader, Jensen Huang, joined the presidential trip to Beijing…

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Hegseth survived impeachment but oversight is coming

Hegseth survived impeachment but oversight is coming

The Intercept reports: Self-styled Secretary of War Pete Hegseth narrowly avoided impeachment Tuesday night, as solidarity from House Republicans blocked a bill introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., charging Hegseth with “high crimes and misdemeanors.” Though Democrats overwhelmingly joined Massie’s effort following their midterm election landslide, the House voted 211 to 204 to refer the charges to a committee, allowing Republicans to slow the process. With 11 Democrats absent, they lacked the numbers. Massie, however, dismissed the impact of Democratic…

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The fridge-hacking spree is an internet-of-things wake-up call

The fridge-hacking spree is an internet-of-things wake-up call

Wired reports: Amid an onslaught of AI vulnerability discovery and AI-assisted hacking, some of the most consequential critical infrastructure attacks this year may have little to do with the technology at all—instead providing a stark reminder that cybersecurity fundamentals are still key to digital defense. Three sites in France that handle blood and plasma bags were briefly impacted this week by widespread attacks on vulnerable internet-connected refrigerators. On Wednesday, the Établissement Français du Sang (EFS) confirmed that cold rooms storing…

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Montana votes to ban corporate political money. Next stop? Probably the Supreme Court

Montana votes to ban corporate political money. Next stop? Probably the Supreme Court

CNBC reports: Imagine a corporation wants to spend $10 million to defeat a political candidate. Under the Supreme Court’s landmark 2010 Citizens United ruling, it can spend as much as it wants provided it doesn’t coordinate with the candidate’s campaign. On Tuesday, Montana voted to change that. In a state President Donald Trump won by nearly 20 points in 2024, roughly 65% of Montanans voted to approve Initiative 194 — the “Montana Plan” — embracing a novel legal strategy to…

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The garbage man: Bill Gates has earned billions investing in climate-polluting landfills

The garbage man: Bill Gates has earned billions investing in climate-polluting landfills

By Alex Cuadros This story was originally published by ProPublica In November 2015, world leaders descended on Paris to negotiate a historic agreement to limit global warming. But on the summit’s opening day, attention turned to a private citizen slouched awkwardly in a chair on stage: Bill Gates. Gates, with his characteristic flop of sandy hair, grinned impishly as President Barack Obama called him a “visionary” and a “driving force” behind a pair of pledges that both saw as key…

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Space junk orbiting our planet may be fast approaching a critical threshold

Space junk orbiting our planet may be fast approaching a critical threshold

Astronomy reports: In the 2013 movie Gravity, Russia destroys its own spy satellite with a missile, creating a cloud of shrapnel and subsequent orbital collisions that rip apart spaceships and astronauts alike. Earth orbit is a place where life imitates art: Eight years later, Moscow launched an actual missile strike on a defunct Soviet satellite, blasting thousands of pieces of metal through space and threatening the International Space Station (ISS) at the nearby altitude of 250 miles (400 kilometers). As…

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Jensen Huang hired a PR firm known for handling sex scandals a year ago. Nvidia faces lawsuit

Jensen Huang hired a PR firm known for handling sex scandals a year ago. Nvidia faces lawsuit

Wired reports: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang began working with a crisis communications firm known for handling public scandals a year before he admitted to having an extramarital affair with a woman suspected by US intelligence of being a Chinese spy. The firm, Heller, has handled Huang’s behind-the-scenes communications since at least October 2025, according to two sources familiar with the matter. Risa Heller, the firm’s founder, has built a reputation as a fixer for powerful men facing allegations of sexual…

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Trump hopes to put the Iran war on hold

Trump hopes to put the Iran war on hold

The Washington Post reports: The United States is unlikely to restart major military operations against Iran, President Donald Trump indicated Monday, saying he was satisfied that current negotiations were making progress and that there was little need for now to engage in an extensive new attack. “Iran, militarily, is effectively over. We’re just keeping it the status quo, and we’re doing that really at the behest of countries that are their neighbors,” Trump told reporters in a surprise appearance in…

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France accuses Iran of supermarket fridge hacking

France accuses Iran of supermarket fridge hacking

BBC News reports: France has accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of being behind cyber-attacks that raised the temperatures of supermarket fridges and freezers across the country last month. Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the attack was “unprecedented in both its scale and its level of aggression”, adding those who were responsible would be hit with sanctions. Iran has yet to respond officially, but some Iranian media outlets have dismissed the allegations as baseless. The French hacking, which led…

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Immigrants are being systematically returned home despite court orders

Immigrants are being systematically returned home despite court orders

The New York Times reports: Mustapha Camara and immigrants like him had court protections that they thought made them safe from the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. They found themselves swept up nonetheless. To deport these immigrants, the administration has partnered with foreign governments, many with spotty human rights records. In exchange for money and foreign policy favors, they have agreed to accept deportees who cannot be returned to their countries of origin. But a New York Times investigation found…

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Firm linked to Trump’s sons got nearly $40 million in federal contracts to screen for Ebola and other diseases

Firm linked to Trump’s sons got nearly $40 million in federal contracts to screen for Ebola and other diseases

By Sharon Lerner, Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Robert Faturechi This story was originally published by ProPublica The Trump administration awarded a small biosecurity company nearly $40 million to screen for Ebola and other infectious diseases just months after a firm linked to President Donald Trump’s elder sons invested in its parent company, according to records and interviews. The contracts, one to screen for Ebola in several U.S. airports and the other to respond to disease outbreaks in the Democratic Republic…

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Chimpanzees learn when to use some of their calls — with parallels to how humans learn words

Chimpanzees learn when to use some of their calls — with parallels to how humans learn words

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology: A new study led by researchers at the CNRS Institute of Cognitive Sciences in Lyon and the Taï Chimpanzee Project in the Ivory Coast has found the first evidence of arbitrary, conventionalised vocal communication in wild chimpanzees. This discovery narrows the perceived gap between chimpanzee and human communication. The words of human languages are, for the most part, both learnt and arbitrary. To say that words are arbitrary means that, in a slightly different…

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Scientists reach a record temperature: 280 billion times colder than the Universe

Scientists reach a record temperature: 280 billion times colder than the Universe

Science Alert reports: Even the seemingly empty vacuum of space isn’t completely cold. The Universe was born some 13.8 billion years ago in a state so hot and dense that the leftover radiation still permeates every one of its nooks and crannies. The average background temperature of space hovers around 2.7 kelvins – that’s -270.45 degrees Celsius, or -454.81 Fahrenheit. Now, scientists have made something with an equivalent temperature 280 billion times lower – shattering the previous record in humanity’s…

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