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CNN — As the sun rises over Kabul’s parched mountains, a family’s daily struggle to find water – and to make it last – is about to begin. The sound of water tankers rumbling through Raheela’s neighborhood in the Afghan capital prompts the 42-year-old mother of four to rush out to the street to fill her family’s battered buckets and jerrycans. The family’s supply is always running low, she says, and every liter is expensive, stretching nerves and their budgets to breaking point. “We don’t have access to (drinking) water at all,” Raheela, who goes by one name, told CNN.…
Following a Pro Publica report that Microsoft was using engineers in China to help maintain cloud computing systems for the U.S. Department of Defense, the company said it’s made changes to ensure this will no longer happen. The existing system reportedly relied on “digital escorts” to supervise the China-based engineers. But according to Pro Publica, those escorts — U.S. citizens with security clearances — sometimes lacked the technical expertise to properly monitor the engineers. In response to the report, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth wrote on X, “Foreign engineers — from any country, including of course China — should NEVER…
When Vultron announced its $22 million funding round earlier this week, the AI startup made sure to highlight a key investor: Craft Ventures, the firm “co-founded by White House AI adviser David Sacks.” The announcement has raised questions about conflicts of interest in the Trump administration, where Sacks serves as both AI and crypto czar while maintaining his role at Craft Ventures — an arrangement that critics see as a new model of government service where the lines between public duty and private gain have become unclear. Sacks has secured not one but two ethics waivers allowing him to shape…
Andy Byron, the startup executive at the center of an extraordinary social media furor, has resigned as CEO of data operations startup Astronomer. Byron, who is married, was captured on a Coldplay concert “kiss cam” with his arms around the company’s chief people officer Kristin Cabot. After Byron and Cabot quickly tried to hide from the camera, Coldplay singer Chris Martin joked, “Either they’re having an affair or they’re just very shy.” Video of the awkward incident soon went spectacularly viral — Axios, citing Muck Rack data, reported on Friday that over the preceding 24 hours, 22,000 news articles had…
CNN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he’s calling for a meeting with Russia next week to push forward ceasefire talks. Ukraine’s Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Rustem Umerov, has already proposed the next meeting with the Russian side for next week, Zelensky said during his daily address on Saturday. “The dynamics of the negotiations must improve. We need to do everything possible to achieve a ceasefire. The Russian side must stop avoiding decisions regarding prisoner exchanges, the return of children, and the cessation of killings,” Zelensky said. “A meeting at the leadership level is…
Most founders eventually have to pitch venture firms in hopes of raising capital. Tiffany Luck, a partner at NEA, took the stage at TechCrunch’s All Stage event in Boston to answer how to craft the perfect one. “I like to think of a VC pitch as your initial way for assessing founder-investor fit,” she told the crowd before diving into her presentation. One of the most important slides to have in a pitch is “The What,” she said, meaning, “‘The What’ are you building.” That’s followed by “The Why” you are the right person for the job and why you…
CNN — Israeli troops opened fire on Gazans seeking food aid in the territory, killing at least 32 people, the Palestinian health ministry and witnesses said. The ministry said that the bodies had been brought to Nasser Medical Complex, along with dozens of injured people. CNN video from the hospital showed lines of bodies. One man, holding his dead son, said: “He just wanted to eat, what could I do?” It’s unclear exactly where the shooting took place. One eyewitness, Hisham Dargam, said it had occurred some 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from an aid distribution point run by the Gaza…
This fall, Japan will likely be the most popular destination among travelers from the United States taking off-season trips, according to new data. According to flight deal site Going.com, Tokyo is now the No. 1 most watched city for fall flight alerts in the company’s app. The Japanese capital has edged out European cities, which are typically among the most popular destinations for U.S. travelers during the shoulder season. Japan’s popularity for autumn vacations follows an ongoing trend of U.S. travelers becoming increasingly interested in “The Land of the Rising Sun.” In April 2025, for instance, the nation saw a 28.5%…
Days after AI coding startup Windsurf announced that it’s being acquired by Cognition, Windsurf startup Jeff Wang took to X to offer more details about the drama and uncertainty around the deal. Windsurf was previously reported to be in acquisition talks with OpenAI, but that deal fell apart, with Google DeepMind instead hiring the startup’s CEO Varun Mohan, co-founder Douglas Chen, and some of its top researchers. Google would reportedly license Windsurf’s technology as part of the $2.4 billion deal — but not take an equity stake in the company. This looked like the latest in the trend of “reverse…
CNN — At least 34 bodies have been recovered and another 11 people have been rescued after a tourist boat capsized in Vietnam’s Halong Bay on Saturday, according to state media. Search and rescue efforts are underway for those who are still missing, according to VN Express, which reported that the vessel was carrying 53 people, including 48 tourists and five crew members. The nationalities of those on board have not yet been stated. VN Express reported that the ship, called the Wonder Sea, was caught in a storm around 1.30 p.m. local time (2.30 a.m. ET), which caused it…