US drugmakers Merck and Moderna said Wednesday a personalised cancer treatment had shown success in reducing the recurrence of melanoma tumors in a late-stage trial hailed by experts as a “breakthrough.” Researchers have for years been trying to apply mRNA treatments against cancer, but this was the first time such a drug showed positive results in a large, late-stage clinical trial. Source link
By Nidal al-Mughrabi and Hasseb Alwazeer CAIRO/GAZA, Aug 13 (Reuters) – Gaza cancer patients are dying at two to three times the pace they did before the start of the war in the territory, as Israel blocks many from travelling for treatment after destroying the only local specialised facility, Gaza doctors said. Israel blew up Gaza’s specialised cancer hospital last year after saying troops found a tunnel used by Hamas militants running beneath it. That means that an estimated 17,000 Gazans with cancer have no local option for chemotherapy or other advanced therapy. Few Palestinians can afford to travel for treatment, and those who can face Israeli restrictions. The military imposes strict caps on daily crossings to Egypt, despite a 2025 Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal that requires free movement in and out. Asked for comment, COGAT, the Israeli military agency that controls access to Gaza, said it coordinates medical evacuations with the World Health Organization. To depart, Gazans must have a valid request from a receiving country and pass “required security screening,” COGAT said. The WHO …
The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 The US is considering banning Chinese data center componentsThe news comes just after the FCC announced curbs on other high-tech Chinese hardware. (Reuters $)+ Texas is now requiring data centers to pass an audit before connecting to the grid. (The Verge $)+ Trump’s AI protectionism has come for robotics. (MIT Technology Review) 2 SpaceX rocket has crashed into the moon The collision, at about 5,400 miles per hour, will likely leave a new crater. (Guardian)+ SpaceX posted a loss of over $500 million in its first quarterly earnings report since its IPO. (WP $)+ The company’s future plans rely on the success of its huge Starship rockets. (WSJ $)+ Meanwhile, SpaceX’s spending on AI is soaring. (NYT $) 3 The UK’s AI Safety Institute says it’s uncovered more AI hacksIncluding an Anthropic model setting up fake accounts mimicking real people. (BBC)+ The White House has a new cybersecurity framework…but it’s keeping details under wraps. (Wired $)+ Here’s why AI agents lie and cheat to reach their goals. (MIT Technology Review) 4 The future’s looking bright for French AI …
Voters leave their polling station in Kansas City after voting in the Missouri primary election on Aug. 2, 2022. In 2026, Missouri is one state considering tougher thresholds for enacting state constitutional amendments. Kyle Rivas/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kyle Rivas/Getty Images Voters in a handful of states will weigh in on ballot measures this year that could raise the thresholds needed to pass state constitutional amendments, making it significantly harder for voters to enact policy changes themselves. Voting rights advocates warn these measures could stifle direct democracy and give minority views outsized power. Kelly Hall — executive director of the Fairness Project, a nonprofit that backs ballot measures that promote social and economic justice — said severe limits on constitutional amendments have become a trend. “The theme of 2026 is the battle over direct democracy availability itself,” she told NPR. “This is a really powerful tool … and one of the most frequent topics that we will see voted on this November is, can voters continue to exercise that right meaningfully?” But Republican …
By Foo Yun Chee and Bart H. Meijer BRUSSELS, July 13 (Reuters) – The European Union will move to limit young children’s access to social media across the 27-member bloc, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday, in what would be the biggest such effort to date to guard against online dangers. Von der Leyen presented a paper from two experts recommending a tiered approach, with under-13s only allowed to use social media for limited periods under the supervision of parents, caregivers and teachers. The curbs would be lifted gradually as teenagers got older. “It is clear we need age-appropriate restrictions to platforms,” von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels. “The question is no longer if children face risks online, but what can we do to give children a safer start online,” she said. Von der Leyen indicated that she was likely to follow the experts’ suggestions and that the Commission would present a concrete proposal after the summer. She is expected to announce it at her state of the union address …
An all-time favorite line from the final season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is Larry David’s confession that he’s been expecting more from himself his whole life but has come to realize, “It’s just not there.” Now apply that mote of satori to the whole nation and voilà: we have “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness,” David’s seven-episode contribution to America’s 250th anniversary. His America, as filtered through the lens of former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground production company, is a land of well-meaning people. Some of us, anyway. Sadly, the circumstances of our birth also sentenced us to put up with picayune, ornery, solipsistic types like him. The limited series doesn’t explicitly make that argument, mind you. It opens by promoting the opposing view, declaring America a grand experiment in self-government. “Our founding fathers drafted a charter to guarantee the rule of law and the rights of man,” says Obama in an introductory monologue. “Together, they established a new nation, one where power resided not with the monarch but …
Anthropic’s Fable/Mythos 5 ranks number one in the world for model intelligence, widening the US-China gap. The gap may widen further because of “anti-distillation” features, and the models are now under US export control, which has shuttered access to the advanced models. LLM model matrix pic.twitter.com/d64OIhoYDH — zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 11, 2026 Late Friday, the US government banned foreign governments, companies, and individuals from using Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models after researchers at Amazon demonstrated to the Trump administration that some safeguards on Fable could be circumvented. People familiar with what’s happening inside the Trump administration told The Wall Street Journal that Anthropic sent top officials to the White House and held calls to resolve software vulnerabilities, including the alleged ability to ‘jailbreak’ the model. DARIO REFUSED TO FIX JAILBREAK W/ ANTHROPIC MYTHOS MODEL: SACKS https://t.co/VArxay0cVA — zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 13, 2026 Anthropic’s top security staff, including Nicholas Carlini, Logan Graham, and Dave Orr, were sent to Washington on Saturday to speak with senior US officials, including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, National Cyber …
June 15 (Reuters) – Cybersecurity leaders at major U.S. firms, including Nvidia and Adobe, have asked the Trump administration to lift restrictions on Anthropic’s most powerful AI models, arguing that the bans hamper efforts to prevent the spread of digital attacks. The letter follows Washington’s decision on Friday ordering Anthropic to suspend access to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for any foreign nationals over national security concerns. After previously warning about the hacking capabilities of its Mythos model and withholding it from wide release to prevent potential harm, Anthropic last week released a public version called Fable with what it described as cybersecurity safeguards. The curbs that Washington has now placed on the technology will limit the cybersecurity industry’s ability to find and fix software flaws at a time when other AI tools are making it easier for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities, according to a letter on Sunday signed by more than 50 security leaders. The letter said Anthropic’s models were not uniquely capable of finding security flaws and weaponizing exploits, with rival …
Following earlier news that China has blacklisted 7 EU defense and aerospace firms over their dealings with Taiwan, Bloomberg reports that China plans to restrict top technology firms, including leading AI startups, from accepting US capital without government approval. Chinese regulators, including the National Development and Reform Commission, have recently instructed several private technology firms to reject U.S. investment in funding rounds unless explicitly approved, the report said. The commission – a powerful state planning agency with broad policy-making powers – is now heading a multi-agency probe that includes the Ministry of Commerce into the deal and its repercussions, the people said. AI startups Moonshot AI and StepFun were among the companies that received the guidance, the report said, adding that TikTok owner ByteDance has also been told it should not allow secondary share sales to US investors without clearance. The measures are aimed at preventing US investors from gaining stakes in sensitive technologies linked to China’s national security. The heightened scrutiny follows Meta’s more than $2 billion acquisition of AI startup Manus in 2025, which triggered investigations into foreign …
U.S. Representative Julie Johnson, Democrat of Texas, speaks during a House Committee on Homeland Security hearing on Oversight of the Department of Homeland Security in February 2026. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent weekly. Families are having an even harder time than usual talking to loved ones in immigration detention or finding out where they’re located during the current Department of Homeland Security shutdown, a Texas Democrat says. The plight of families adds to the patchwork of complaints from Democratic lawmakers and attorneys about oversight and other issues while the agency enters a sixth week without government funding. “I have had numerous constituents reach out to my office who have been unable to locate family members or secure medical treatments for those held in detention, all while Members of Congress continue to receive inconsistent responses from this administration regarding the scope of their oversight authority and the role of the agency during a lapse in funding,” Rep. Julie …
