World
The U.S. military said it struck three Iranian crude oil tankers on Saturday after Iran's Revolutionary Guard fired ballistic missiles toward two U.S. Navy warships. One tanker was hit off Kharg Island, another near Jask east of the Strait of Hormuz, and an unladen tanker was struck in the Gulf of Oman. The strikes end a lull of about a month and add fresh pressure on shipping through the strait that carries a large share of the world's oil. Iran's foreign ministry condemned the action as illegal, and state media threatened wider attacks on U.S. vessels. At least five people were killed earlier in the week during a U.S. bombardment of southern Iran, and oil prices climbed as traders weighed the risk to exports.
Associated Press
Politics
The Trump administration on Sunday again asked the Supreme Court to allow new restrictions on mail-in voting ahead of the November midterm elections. It is the third time the administration has sought the high court's intervention in the dispute over an executive order that voting rights groups and Democratic-led states say intrudes on state election authority. Lower courts have blocked key parts of the order, and a federal appeals court said it “directs unprecedented levels of involvement by federal officials in how states administer elections.” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson set a fast deadline for responses. North Carolina began mailing absentee ballots on Friday, and control of both chambers of Congress is at stake in November.
PBS NewsHour
Business
Volkswagen Group said Thursday that its supervisory board had approved a sweeping transformation plan that could remove about 50,000 jobs, including management positions, as Europe's largest automaker fights Chinese competition and trade costs. The company said its German factories can build about 500,000 more vehicles a year than it can sell and that it will cut roughly half of its vehicle offerings. Volkswagen did not say when the cuts would happen or how they would be spread across brands such as Audi, Porsche and Lamborghini. Employment in Germany has already fallen from about 275,000 in 2023 to 254,000 at the end of June. The plan is the company's biggest cost overhaul in years.
Reuters
Technology
NVIDIA announced Wednesday that it has agreed to buy Hugging Face, the leading online hub where developers share and download open-source AI models, for $12.93 billion. The two companies said they plan to scale Hugging Face's platform, strengthen its infrastructure and expand access to AI for developers and institutions worldwide. The price is roughly 86 times Hugging Face's reported annualized revenue of about $150 million, a sign of how much value investors place on the tools teams use to find and deploy AI models. The deal needs regulatory approval, and NVIDIA has not given a closing timeline. Hugging Face, led by co-founder and CEO Clément Delangue, would stay inside NVIDIA's growing software and developer ecosystem.
The Information
Science
Physicists working with the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) dark matter detector, buried 1.6 kilometers underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in a former South Dakota gold mine, have recorded a single particle interaction they cannot easily explain. The team analyzed 220 days of data collected between March 2023 and April 2024 and found one event in a region where dark matter is expected to appear and background noise is low. If the event came from dark matter, the particle would have a mass of at least 200 GeV, more than 200 times the mass of a proton. The signal stands at 2.6 sigma, short of the 5-sigma level needed to claim a discovery. Researchers say more data will decide whether it is real.
Sci.News
Sports
Lionel Messi announced Monday that he is retiring from Argentina's national team, ending an international career that produced 125 goals in 207 appearances, both national records. In a statement on Instagram, the 39-year-old said he had given everything to the side and had nothing left to give, adding that the decision "hurts me deeply." Messi captained Argentina to the 2021 Copa América title and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the crowning achievement of a career that began with four straight final losses. His last tournament ended in defeat, with Spain beating Argentina in the World Cup final on July 19 in New Jersey. Messi is expected to keep playing club football for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer.
BBC Sport
Health
The Food and Drug Administration said American Regent is voluntarily recalling three lots of epinephrine injection vials distributed nationwide after customers reported leaking and cracked vials. The company found particulate matter including nylon, cellulose, acrylic, polyethylene and glass in the vials and could not assure their sterility. The recalled product is epinephrine injection USP 30 mg/30 mL (1 mg/mL) multi-dose vials sold under NDC 0517-3030-01, with lot numbers 25128L1C0, 25280L1C0 and 26108L1C0. Epinephrine is used to treat severe allergic reactions and cardiac arrest, so contamination poses a serious risk. American Regent said no adverse events have been reported and is arranging returns and replacements. Customers can call 800-645-1706 for questions.
FDA
Environment
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said the current El Niño is likely to peak at levels above the warmest observed since reliable records began in 1950, which would make it the strongest event on record. Pacific Ocean temperature change has already exceeded 2 degrees Celsius in six months, breaking earlier records, and the event is forecast to keep strengthening into late spring and summer. Scientists say climate change has made record-strength events far more likely. For Australia, El Niño usually brings hotter and drier conditions to the south and east, raising the risk of heatwaves, drought and bushfires. The United Nations has warned that a record El Niño is approaching, with effects expected to ripple across the Pacific and beyond.
The Guardian