Lewis Hamilton admits "never say never" with regards to challenging Mercedes for this year's Formula 1 title, with the Briton confident of pushing Ferrari further in the right direction ahead of this weekend's Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Pirelli will remain the single tyre supplier for the FIA Formula One World Championship until 2028, after the FIA exercised the option to extend the current contract by mutual agreement with Formula 1 and Pirelli.
Fernando Alonso first tasted victory on home soil 20 years ago. Now at Aston Martin his drive to succeed is as strong as it ever was.
Kimi Antonelli admits that "this year so far [I'm] not doubting myself", as the Mercedes driver heads to the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix on the crest of a wave after five wins on the bounce.
Ahead of his home race, Fernando Alonso has reflected on how long he will continue racing in F1.
Plenty of people within F1 are excited about the start of the 2026 World Cup, and the drivers are no different..
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma and Chief Content Officer Matt Booty told staff that Xbox's current economics "cannot continue," citing more than $20 billion in spending over five years, declining revenue outside Activision Blizzard King, console supply constraints tied to RAMaggedon, and an overextended studio portfolio. The memo stops short of announcing layoffs, but a Bloomberg report says substantial Xbox cuts are expected after Microsoft's fiscal year ends on June 30. Engadget reports: The takeaways are pretty grim. For starters, the simple math of Xbox's revenue isn't adding up to success. "Excluding Activision Blizzard King, over the past five years, we have spent over $20 billion on ongoing investments in our content, platform, and hardware subsidy, but our annual revenue has declined nearly half a billion during that time," the execs state. "Going forward, this cannot continue." They also acknowledge the impact of RAMaggedon: "We are currently unable to make as many consoles as players want to buy, and we need a new business model and partnerships for hardware as we remain committed to Helix." (Helix, in this case, is Project Helix, the codename for Xbox's new console.)
Then there's the kicker, a renewed admission that Xbox still can't support the many studios it acquired in the late 2010s in an effort to grow its first-party game ambitions. "We have found ourselves over extended as we executed on changing strategies in a landscape of more readily available content," the pair said, noting elsewhere that with so many good games, not to mention the plethora of other forms of entertainment available, "Going forward, our competition is attention."
Then there's the kicker, a renewed admission that Xbox still can't support the many studios it acquired in the late 2010s in an effort to grow its first-party game ambitions. "We have found ourselves over extended as we executed on changing strategies in a landscape of more readily available content," the pair said, noting elsewhere that with so many good games, not to mention the plethora of other forms of entertainment available, "Going forward, our competition is attention."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Politico: China was likely behind an online influence operation to sway U.S. perceptions of artificial intelligence technology and reshape the debate in Washington around the infrastructure needed to support it, according to research from OpenAI published Wednesday. OpenAI said it caught the influence campaign because China-backed operatives were using ChatGPT to create content for the social media campaign. [...] OpenAI's researchers identified two clusters of ChatGPT users "likely originating from China" who used the AI chatbot to generate social media content "in support of apparent covert influence operations" promoting certain narratives about AI. This includes claims that data center build-outs are raising electricity costs for the average American family and that President Donald Trump has weaponized tariffs to keep the U.S. ahead in the global tech race. These accounts have since been banned, the report said.
One cluster of users asked ChatGPT to generate images and comments pushing these narratives. These comments were then posted on social media by "batches of accounts" posing as Americans, [said Ben Nimmo, principal investigator of intelligence and investigations at OpenAI]. Another cluster identified by researchers used AI to generate social media content criticizing the Trump administration's tariffs as an attempt to "dominate technological competition." Prompts used for this campaign were submitted in Simplified Chinese and asked that AI-generated content not include Chinese President Xi Jinping and focus solely on Trump -- a possible tell that China was behind the operation, according to the report. Nimmo said that the influence campaign amplified existing public backlash in the U.S. against the creation of new AI data centers, which has resulted in dozens of proposed moratoriums at the local, state and national level. "Neither campaign appears to have gained much authentic engagement," Nimmo said. "They're important for what they reveal about the intentions of influence operators from China, and the narratives they're testing and seeking to amplify, but not for the impact."
One cluster of users asked ChatGPT to generate images and comments pushing these narratives. These comments were then posted on social media by "batches of accounts" posing as Americans, [said Ben Nimmo, principal investigator of intelligence and investigations at OpenAI]. Another cluster identified by researchers used AI to generate social media content criticizing the Trump administration's tariffs as an attempt to "dominate technological competition." Prompts used for this campaign were submitted in Simplified Chinese and asked that AI-generated content not include Chinese President Xi Jinping and focus solely on Trump -- a possible tell that China was behind the operation, according to the report. Nimmo said that the influence campaign amplified existing public backlash in the U.S. against the creation of new AI data centers, which has resulted in dozens of proposed moratoriums at the local, state and national level. "Neither campaign appears to have gained much authentic engagement," Nimmo said. "They're important for what they reveal about the intentions of influence operators from China, and the narratives they're testing and seeking to amplify, but not for the impact."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Pontiff calls on leaders to treat migrants more humanely as he concludes week-long Spanish tour in Gran Canaria
The constant flow of people embarking in small, rickety boats to migrate abroad should force a reckoning as to why we have built a world where so many “must risk death to seek life”, Pope Leo has said as he warned: “We cannot grow accustomed to counting the dead.”
Thursday’s speech in the Canary Islands, on the final leg of the pontiff’s week-long tour of Spain, contained Leo’s most pointed comments to date on migration.
Continue reading...Footage shows Elliot Sudal hauling the shark from the surf before releasing it within seconds, sparking online reaction
An angler who reeled in a rare great white shark at a Nantucket beach said he posted extraordinary video of the encounter to social media as an example of how to safely catch and release one of the ocean’s greatest predators.
Elliot Sudal said he was “testing the waters” off the Massachusetts beach he regularly uses when he inadvertently snagged the shark on Sunday.
Continue reading...Vance Boelter changes plea in murders of Melissa and Mark Hortman as prosecutors agree not to pursue death penalty
The man charged in the political assassinations of the top Democrat in the Minnesota house and her husband, as well as the non-fatal shootings of a state senator and his wife, pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday after prosecutors said they would not seek the death penalty.
Vance Boelter was charged with murdering Melissa Hortman, the Minnesota house speaker, and her husband, Mark Hortman, and with shooting state senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette Hoffman. Boelter came to their doors in the early hours of 14 June 2025, disguised as a police officer and driving a fake squad car.
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TERNEUZEN (ANP) - Naar aanleiding van het verkeersongeluk waarbij donderdagmiddag twee kinderen en een volwassene overleden, zegt de Zeeuwse gemeente Terneuzen "ontzettend geschrokken te zijn" en mee te leven met alle betrokkenen en hun dierbaren.
Een personenauto botste rond 12.30 uur op een groep van veertien fietsende kinderen en twee begeleiders tijdens hun schoolkamp. Dat gebeurde op de N290 bij de Zeeuwse plaats Vogelwaarde, gemeente Hulst. Volgens een woordvoerder van die gemeente bevindt de betreffende school zich in de gemeente Terneuzen.
Vier kinderen raakten zwaargewond. De andere begeleider en kinderen zijn opgevangen. "Voor hen en hun naasten wordt hulp georganiseerd", aldus de gemeente Terneuzen.