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CNN — A huge fire tore through a large shopping center in Iraq’s eastern city of Kut on Wednesday, killing dozens of people and devastating a community. At least 61 people – including men, women and children – died in the blaze at the five-story Al-Kornish Hypermarket, and dozens more were rescued from the burning building, according to a statement from Iraq’s Ministry of Interior on Thursday morning. “This heartbreaking fire claimed the lives of 61 innocent citizens, most of whom died from suffocation in the bathrooms due to the heavy smoke,” the interior ministry said, adding that it was…
Taipei, Taiwan CNN — For thirty minutes, under the punishing midday sun, Taiwan’s capital Taipei rehearsed for war. Presidential alerts began blaring on cell phones at 1:30pm on Thursday across this city of more than two million people: “[Air Defense Drill] Missile attack. Seek immediate shelter.” Then came the air raid sirens, bouncing off rows of concrete apartment blocks and office towers. The shrill, ominous sound is instantly recognizable, and for anyone who’s experienced the real thing, gut-churning. Police with loud whistles began shouting and ordering all traffic to pull over. Drivers had to abandon their cars at blinking traffic…
Meta has fixed a security bug that allowed Meta AI chatbot users to access and view the private prompts and AI-generated responses of other users. Sandeep Hodkasia, the founder of security testing firm AppSecure, exclusively told TechCrunch that Meta paid him $10,000 in a bug bounty reward for privately disclosing the bug he filed on December 26, 2024. Meta deployed a fix on January 24, 2025, said Hodkasia, and found no evidence that the bug was maliciously exploited. Hodkasia told TechCrunch that he identified the bug after examining how Meta AI allows its logged-in users to edit their AI prompts…
Three weeks ago, an engineer named Calvin French-Owen, who worked on one of OpenAI’s most promising new products, resigned from the company. He just published a fascinating blog post on what it was like to work there for a year, including the sleepless sprint to build Codex. That’s OpenAI’s new coding agent that competes with tools like Cursor and Anthropic’s Claude Code. French-Owen said he didn’t leave because of any “drama,” but because he wants to get back to being a startup founder. He was a co-founder of customer data startup Segment, which was bought by Twilio in 2020 for…
AP — A Turkish court on Wednesday convicted Istanbul’s jailed opposition mayor and the chief rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of insulting and threatening a public official and sentenced him to a year and eight months in prison. Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, who is being held in a prison west of Istanbul since March 23, is expected to appeal the verdict, which is part of several ongoing legal proceedings against him. The case, which predates his arrest, stems from comments he made on Jan. 20 in which he criticized Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor Akin Gurlek, accusing him of targeting opposition…
by Sarah Kuta Last updated: 11:40 AM ET, Wed July 16, 2025 Cunard is celebrating an uptick in bookings following the launch of its 2027-28 sailings.The cruise line is reporting a 55 percent increase in nights booked during the first seven days compared to the equivalent period for the 2026 launch. Travelers in the United Kingdom and North America are driving the demand, with bookings up nearly 50 percent in the U.K. and more than 100 percent in North America. Luxury suites are also seeing a boost. Bookings for Queens Grill and Princess Grill suites increased by more than 100…
Former U.S. Army soldier Cameron John Wagenius pleaded guilty to hacking telecommunication companies and attempting to extort them by threatening to release stolen files, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday. According to the DOJ, Wagenius, who went online with the nickname “kiberphant0m,” conspired to defraud 10 victim companies by stealing their login credentials, using brute force attacks and other techniques, and then used Telegram group chats to transfer the stolen credentials and discuss hacks. Wagenius and his conspirators also attempted to extort their victims in private and in public, including on hacking forums such as the notorious BreachForums. They…
Reuters — South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ordered the setting up of a new investigation team, involving police and prosecutors, to look into the deadly Halloween crowd crush that killed 159, mostly young people, in 2022, his spokesperson said on Thursday. Lee’s move to launch a new probe came as he met the bereaved families of victims from recent major disasters, including the Halloween crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district, his spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told a briefing. Lee, who took office in June, has promised to make the country safer and to prevent any repeat of the disasters in…
Amazon’s race to challenge SpaceX in orbit is getting a helping hand from its chief competitor: SpaceX, which will launch the next batch of Amazon’s Project Kuiper internet satellites skyward on Wednesday. A flock of 24 Kuiper internet satellites will ride aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket before dawn. The mission, dubbed KF-01, has a 27-minute launch window that opens at 2:18 a.m. ET and will lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Once complete, it will bring the total number of Kuiper satellites on orbit to 78. Amazon ultimately plans to deploy more than 3,200 spacecraft in its…
by Sarah Kuta Last updated: 10:55 AM ET, Wed July 16, 2025 Seabourn is making some changes to its loyalty program.Starting October 20, the updated Seabourn Club will feature new benefit options, accelerated access to loyalty level status and an upgraded cruise award structure. “We recognize that guest preferences continue to evolve, and we’ve taken a closer look at how we can better align Seabourn Club with what today’s travelers expect, especially when it comes to faster access to meaningful benefits and enjoying a richer suite of onboard enhancements,” says Mark Tamis, president of Seabourn. “Simple but important items such…