When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Tails Linux introduces reforms in security audit postmortem to make you safer Paul Hill Neowin @ziks_99 · May 17, 2025 10:16 EDT Alongside the release of Tails 6.11 earlier this year, the Tails Project revealed that Radically Open Security was auditing the Tails operating system to better protect users. The audit has now concluded and no remote code vulnerabilities were found. The only issues that were found required a compromised low-privileged amnesia user, which is the default account in Tails. Luckily for users, the Tails developers are quick on their toes and asked for information about the vulnerabilities before the report was published and released fixes for the discovered issues, which users now already enjoy. Here’s an overview of what was fixed: ID Impact Description Issue Status Release OTF-001 High Local privilege escalation in Tails Upgrader #20701 Fixed 6.11 OTF-002 High Arbitrary code execution in Python scripts #20702 Fixed 6.11 #20744 Fixed 6.12 OTF-003 Moderate Argument injection in privileged GNOME scripts #20709 Fixed 6.11 #20710 Fixed 6.11 OTF-004 Low Untrusted search path in Tor Browser launcher #20733 Fixed 6.12 Following the fixing of the bugs, the Tails team also did a postmortem of the audit to find out what cultural things need to change and which technical things need to be changed that had a role in allowing the entry of bugs into the operating system in the first place. The major cultural change that Tails has adopted is how it shares vulnerabilities with the public. So far, it said it has been too secretive about vulnerabilities, but going forward, has adopted the security issue response policy based on the policy of the Tor Project’s Network Team. It also found that refactoring large amounts of code can also be a way in for security bugs so from now on it will be more intentional and only do large refactoring when it’s worth the effort and risk. For anyone running Tails, these are extremely positive developments. Tails is used by all sorts of people for sensitive work, so knowing that it’s being proactive on security is reassuring. Source: Tails Tags Report a problem with article Follow @NeowinFeed

If a user publishes a post with a link to a website or article on Elon Musk's X, very often they'll find that the post receives minimal views, retweets, and likes. Musk has previously confirmed that his social media platform, formerly known as Twitter, deprioritizes links via its algorithm.X users have complained about this, but Musk wants people to spend the maximum amount of time on his platform. However, it appears one of X's competitors now views this as an opportunity.Meta's Threads will now prioritize links on the platform in a few major ways. You May Also Like Share more links in your Threads bioIn an update this week, Meta announced that Threads will now allow users to place up to 5 links in their bio. For comparison, X only allows users to post a single link in the "website" section of a user's profile page.  Credit: Meta By allowing multiple links, Threads allows users to share more of their personal websites and projects with people on the platform. This might also help users circumvent the need to use link-in-bio services like Linktree to share multiple links on their Threads profile page. Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up! Threads link analyticsFurthermore, Meta wants its users to know just how much traffic Threads sends from links posted on the platform. Credit: Meta The company announced that Threads will now profile users with link analytics that present data regarding the number of clicks that links receive via Threads. The platform will provide users with this information for links posted to both a user's bio and in their posts.Link recommendations in ThreadsWhile Instagram head Adam Mosseri previously claimed Threads didn't specifically downrank posts with links, Mosseri also said the platform didn't place much value on them either.  Related Stories That's about to change, too, according to Engadget. Threads will now start promoting posts that include links at a higher rate than before via its recommendation algorithm.Meta has started prioritizing content creators on all of its platforms in recent months. Prioritizing links seems like a big step in that direction as creators look to use social media platforms to promote their work, regardless of where it's posted.We'll soon find out if these changes help Threads win over creators over its competitors like Musk's X and Bluesky. Topics X/Twitter Meta

In 2022.2 and 2021.3.14f1, we’ve improved the scheduling cost and performance scaling of the Unity job system. In this two-part article, I’ll offer a brief recap of parallel programming and job systems, discuss job system overhead, and share Unity’s approach to mitigating it.In part one, we cover background information on parallel programming and the job system API. If you’re already familiar with parallelism, feel free to skim and skip to part two.In the 2017.3 release, a public C# API was added for the internal C++ Unity job system, allowing users to write small functions called “jobs” which are executed asynchronously. The intention behind using jobs instead of plain old functions is to provide an API that makes it easy, safe, and efficient to allow code that would otherwise run on the main thread to instead run on job “worker” threads, ideally in parallel. This helps to reduce the overall amount of wall time the main thread needs to complete a game’s simulation. Using the job system for your CPU work can provide significant performance improvements and allow your game’s performance to scale naturally as the hardware your game runs on improves.If you think of computation as a finite resource, a single CPU core can only do so much computational “work” in a given period of time. For example, if a single threaded game needs its simulation Update() to take no more than 16ms, but it currently takes 24ms, then the CPU has too much work to do – more time is needed. In order to hit a target of 16ms, there are only two options: make the CPU go faster (e.g., raise the minimum specs for your game – normally not a great option), or do less work.Ultimately, you need to eliminate 8ms of computational work.That typically means improving algorithms, spreading subsystem work across multiple frames, removing redundant work that can accumulate during development, etc. If this still doesn’t get you to your performance target, you may need to reduce game simulation complexity by cutting content and gameplay, for example, by reducing the number of enemies allowed to be spawned at once – which is certainly not ideal.What if, instead of eliminating work, we give the work to another CPU core to run on? Nowadays, most CPUs are multi-core, which means the available single-threaded computational power can be multiplied by the number of cores the CPU has. If we could magically and safely divide all the work currently in the Update() function between two CPU cores, the 24ms Update() work could be run in two simultaneous 12ms chunks. This would get us well below the target of 16ms. Further, if we could divide the work into four parallel chunks and run them on four cores, then the Update() would take only 6ms!This type of work division and running on all available cores is known as performance scaling. If you add more cores, you can ideally run more work in parallel, reducing the wall time of the Update() without code changes.Alas, this is fantasy. Nothing is going to divide the Update() function into pieces and run them on separate cores without some help. Even if we switched to a CPU with 128 cores, the 24ms Update() above will still take 24ms, provided both CPUs have the same clock rate. What a waste of potential! How, then, can we write applications to take advantage of all available CPU cores and increase parallelism?One approach is multithreading. That is, your program creates threads to run a function which the operating system will schedule to run for you. If your CPU has multiple cores, then multiple threads can run at the same time, each on their own core. If there are more threads than available cores, the operating system is responsible for determining which thread gets to run on a core – and for how long – before it switches to another thread, a process called context switching.Multithreaded programming comes with a bunch of complications, however. In the magical scenario above, the Update() function was evenly divided into four partial updates. But in reality, you likely wouldn’t be able to do something so simple. Since the threads will run simultaneously, you need to be careful when they read and write to the same data at the same time, in order to keep them from corrupting each other’s calculations.This usually involves using locking synchronization primitives, like a mutex or semaphore, to control access to shared state between threads. These primitives usually limit how much parallelism specific sections of code can have (usually opting for none at all) by “locking” other threads, preventing them from running the section until the lock holder is done and “unlocks” the section for any waiting threads. This reduces how much performance you get by using multiple threads since you aren’t running in parallel all the time, but it does ensure programs remain correct.It also likely doesn’t make sense to run some parts of your update in parallel due to data dependencies. For example, almost all games need to read input from a controller, store that input in an input buffer, and then read the input buffer and react based on the values.It wouldn’t make sense to have code reading the input buffer to decide if a character should jump executing at the same time as the code writing to the input buffer for that frame’s update. Even if you used a mutex to make sure reading and writing to m_InputBuffer was safe, you always want m_InputBuffer to be written to first and then the m_InputBuffer reading code to run second, so you know whether the jump button was pressed for the current frame (and not one in the past). Such data dependencies are common and normal, but will decrease the amount of parallelism possible.There are many approaches to writing a multithreaded program. You can use platform-specific APIs for creating and managing threads directly, or use various APIs that provide an abstraction to help manage some of the complications of multithreaded programming.A job system is one such abstraction. It provides the means to break up parts of your single-threaded code into logical blocks, isolate what data is needed by that code, control who accesses that data simultaneously, and run as many blocks of code in parallel as possible to try and utilize all computational power available on the CPU as needed.Today, we cannot divide arbitrary functions into pieces automatically, so Unity provides a job API that enables users to convert functions into small logical blocks. From there, the job system takes care of making those pieces run in parallel.The job system is made up of a few core components:JobsJob handlesJob schedulerAs mentioned before, a job is just a function and some data, but this encapsulation is useful, as it reduces the scope of which specific data the job will read from or write to.Once a job instance is created, it needs to be scheduled with the job system. This is done with the .Schedule() method added to all job types via C#’s extension mechanism. To identify and keep track of the scheduled job, a JobHandle is provided.Since job handles identify scheduled jobs, they can be used to set up job dependencies. Job dependencies guarantee that a scheduled job won’t start executing until its dependencies have completed. As a direct result, they also tell us when different jobs are allowed to run in parallel by creating a directed acyclic job graph.Finally, as jobs are scheduled, the job scheduler is responsible for keeping track of scheduled jobs (mapping JobHandles to the job instances scheduled) and ensuring jobs start running as quickly as possible. How this is done is important, as the design and usage patterns of the job system can potentially conflict in non-obvious ways, leading to overhead costs that eat into the performance gains of multithreaded programming. As users started adopting the C# job system, we began to see scenarios where job system overhead was higher than we’d like, which led to the improvements to Unity’s internal job system implementation in the 2022.2 Tech Stream.Stay tuned for part two, which will explore where overhead in the C# job system comes from and how it has been reduced in Unity 2022.2.If you have questions or want to learn more, visit us in the C# Job System forum. You can also connect with me directly through the Unity Discord at username @Antifreeze#2763. Be sure to watch for new technical blogs from other Unity developers as part of the ongoing Tech from the Trenches series.

Manager – UA Creative, Mobile GrowthActivisionSanta Monica California 90405 United States of America10 hours agoApplyJob Title:Manager – UA Creative, Mobile GrowthRequisition ID:R025322Job Description:Job Title: Manager – UA CreativeReporting To: Senior Manager – Mobile GrowthTeam: Mobile GrowthDepartment: Call of Duty MarketingLocation: Santa Monica, CAYour PlatformFounded in 1979, Activision has continuously disrupted the world of entertainment as a leader in the videogame industry. With a history of delivering iconic game changers -- like Pitfall® , Tony Hawk®, Guitar Hero®, Crash Bandicoot™, Skylanders ™ and Call of Duty ® -- our obsession is delighting our players around the globe. Focused and committed to innovation, we consistently deliver the most beloved, engaging and successful entertainment.And while we have world-class franchises, infrastructure and resources, our success comes from a passionate, talented and diverse team of people producing greatness together. So, if you’re interested in our biggest priority, it’s our people.We’re currently driving the next era for our company and community by creating amazing experiences for fans and continuing to make Activision an inclusive place where everyone can thrive.Join us, make history. To learn more, check us out at www.activision.com, www.activisiongamesblog.com or @Activision on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.Your MissionMobile Growth is looking for an experienced creative production team member to manage the creative ideation, development, production, delivery, testing, and optimization process for all Growth Marketing & go-to-market media campaigns across the globe.An ideal candidate should be extremely detail oriented, a proactive self-starter, as adept at concepting creative as they are with managing its production and an excellent problem solver under tight timelines. Candidates should be comfortable leading cross-functional collaborations as it relates to the overall creative marketing process. In addition, candidates should be comfortable leading creative brief development and providing data-driven creative direction based on Growth Marketing performance KPI.Priorities can often change in a fast-paced environment like ours, so this role includes, but is not limited to, the following responsibilities:Serve as lead and point of contact for all Growth Marketing creative projects, including UA creative scope, deliverables, timelines, budgets, and internal/external partner communications while ensuring the highest quality creative is being producedDrive Growth Marketing creative end-to-end: creative ideation, agency briefing, production, deployment, testing, analysis, measurement, iteration, and reporting for an executive audienceOwn the Growth Marketing creative testing framework which includes identifying an analytically sound process for hypothesis validation, hands-on testing to gather insights, and implementing known wins to further elevate creative performance KPIsAssist in creative agency identification and optimization in conjunction with Growth & Creative teams, ensuring creative deliverable needs are mapped against project-appropriate partnersLead agency onboarding & integration process: end-to-end contract work, establishing art pipelines (raw assets, character rigs, texture files, SFX, GFX, etc.), game build access, inbound/outbound file management, and all finance & invoicing processesOwn feedback loop between Growth, Creative, and external agency teams ensuring execution is on-brief and incorporates creative performance learnings to drive maximum results.Oversee all post-production creative workflows – QA, localization, asset renaming, legal review, etc.Lead creative asset deployment & trafficking across Growth team, media platforms, and to external partnersBuild, maintain, and proactively share all creative development and production schedules across Growth team, internal partners, and external creative agenciesPredict and plan resourcing and/or time constraint issues and solutions to ensure on-time deliveriesDevelop & manage a creative request intake process for Growth team; ensuring that cross-functional and inter-team needs are being heard, evaluated, tracked, and actionedAssess and set priorities across multiple projects and deliverables that may occur at the same timeConduct cross-functional meetings to discuss creative status, schedules, and deliverablesContinue to establish and improve processes to optimize efficiencies amongst the Growth, Creative, and broader Marketing orgs as well as cross-functional partners both internal & externalPlayer ProfileMinimum Requirements:A minimum of 4+ years' experience in creative production, creative project management, account management, user acquisition/performance marketing, or similar field as part of a creative department or agencyDemonstrated experience in managing cross functional teams, both internally and externally, across multiple regionsFull understanding of creative development and production processes from A to ZAbility to multitask and prioritize deliverables within tight deadlinesExcellent attention to detail, time management, and communication skillsSelf-motivated, proactive, team player with initiativeStrong problem solving and risk mitigation skillsAble to work in a fast-paced, dynamic work environmentBachelor’s degree, or equivalent experience in relevant fieldExtra Points:Experience in digital performance media and/or user acquisitionExperience with end-to-end marketing creative process, familiarity technical specs and outputs across a variety of digital marketing channelsExperience working at an entertainment and/or gaming company; mobile gaming/apps a plusExperience at an international organization with multiple business unitsGraduate degree in relevant fieldOur WorldActivision Blizzard, Inc. is the world’s largest interactive entertainment company, with operations across North America, Europe, and Asia. We are home to some of the most beloved entertainment franchises including Call of Duty®, Destiny, Skylanders®, World of Warcraft®, Overwatch®, Diablo®, Candy Crush™, and Bubble Witch™. Our combined entertainment network delights hundreds of millions of monthly active users in 196 countries, making us the largest gaming network on the planet!Our ability to build immersive and innovate worlds is only enhanced by diverse teams working in an inclusive environment. We aspire to have a culture where everyone can thrive in order to connect and engage the world through epic entertainment. We provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered!The videogame industry and therefore our business is fast-paced and will continue to evolve. As such, the duties and responsibilities of this role may be changed as directed by the Company at any time to promote and support our business and relationships with industry partners.Activision is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.RewardsWe provide a suite of benefits that promote physical, emotional and financial well-being for ‘Every World’ - we’ve got our employees covered! Subject to eligibility requirements, the Company offers comprehensive benefits including:Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance;401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching;Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave;Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others;If the Company requires that you move geographic locations for the job, then you may also be eligible for relocation assistance.Eligibility to participate in these benefits may vary for part time and temporary full-time employees and interns with the Company. You can learn more by visiting https://www.benefitsforeveryworld.com/ .In the U.S., the standard base pay range for this role is $87,480.00 - $161,910.00 Annual. These values reflect the expected base pay range of new hires across all U.S. locations. Ultimately, your specific range and offer will be based on several factors, including relevant experience, performance, and work location. Your Talent Professional can share this role’s range details for your local geography during the hiring process. In addition to a competitive base pay, employees in this role may be eligible for incentive compensation. Incentive compensation is not guaranteed. While we strive to provide competitive offers to successful candidates, new hire compensation is negotiable. Create Your Profile — Game companies can contact you with their relevant job openings. Apply

Photo Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Tree greening may signal early volcanic unrest from underground carbon emissions Highlights Tree greening from CO₂ may signal early signs of volcanic unrest from s NASA satellites detect vegetation changes triggered by volcanic carbon CO₂-induced tree changes may enhance early warning systems for eruption Advertisement NASA scientists might soon be able to forecast volcanic eruptions by monitoring how trees respond from space. Now, in a new collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, they have discovered that tree leaves grow lusher and greener when previously dormant volcanic carbon dioxide seeps up from the ground — an early warning that a cone of magma is pushing upwards. Now, using satellites such as Landsat 8 and data from the recent AVUELO mission, scientists think this biological response could be visible remotely, serving as an added layer of early warning for eruptions in high-risk areas that currently menace millions worldwide.NASA Uses Tree Greening as Satellite Clue for Early Volcano Eruption Warnings in Remote RegionsAs per the research by NASA's Earth Science Division at Ames Research Centre, greening occurs when trees absorb volcanic carbon dioxide released as magma rises. These emissions precede sulfur dioxide and are harder to detect directly from orbit.While carbon dioxide does not always appear obvious in satellite images, its downstream effects — enhanced vegetation, for example — can help reinforce existing volcanic early warning systems, notes volcanologist Florian Schwandner. It could be important because, as the U.S. Geological Survey says, the country is still one of the most volcanically active.Globally, about 1,350 potentially active volcanoes exist, many in remote or hazardous locations. On-site gas measurement is costly and dangerous, prompting volcanologists like Robert Bogue and Nicole Guinn to explore tree-based proxies.Guinn's study of tree leaves around Sicily's Mount Etna found a strong correlation between leaf colour and underground volcanic activity. Satellites such as Sentinel-2 and Terra have proven capable of capturing these subtle vegetative changes, particularly in forested volcanic areas.To confirm this method, climate scientist Josh Fisher led NASA-Smithsonian teams in March 2025 to Panama and Costa Rica, collecting tree samples and measuring gas levels near active volcanoes. Fisher sees this interdisciplinary research as key to both volcano forecasting and understanding long-term tree response to atmospheric carbon dioxide, which will reveal future climate conditions.The benefits of early carbon dioxide detection have been demonstrated in the 2017 eruption of Mayon volcano in the Philippines, where it allowed mass evacuations and saved more than 56,000 lives. It has its limitations, like bad terrain or too much environmental noise, but it could be a game-changer. For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube. Further reading: NASA, volcano warning, satellite imagery, volcanic carbon dioxide, Landsat 8, tree greening, AVUELO, early warning systems Gadgets 360 Staff The resident bot. If you email me, a human will respond. More Related Stories

Bats are the only mammals that can fly (though some can glide). They have excellent hearing, navigate by echolocation, and they can eat their body weight in insects in a single night. But bats’ most impressive superpower is a remarkable tolerance to viral infections. Bats host many viruses, viruses that would sicken and even kill other mammals, without suffering serious consequences themselves (rabies is an exception). And that superpower may be related to the ability to fly, explains Cara Brook, a professor at the University of Chicago who studies the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of infections that jump from animals to humans, in particular infections that come from wild bats. Long Lifespans Make For Better Viral Protection Flying is metabolically expensive. A bat in flight increases its basal metabolic rate 15-fold compared with its resting rate, Brook says. Organisms that have high metabolic rates tend to be small-bodied and very short-lived. That’s probably because organisms with high metabolic rates accumulate oxidative stress in their cells, and so tissues and organs degrade more quickly, shortening their lifespans. Bats, however, are unusually long-lived for their body size. Brook and other scientists who study bats think that bats evolved molecular pathways that mitigate the oxidative damage caused by the increased metabolism, thus increasing their lifespans. So what does this have to do with viruses?Bat Immune Systems Brook’s theory is that many of these molecular pathways, in addition to extending bats’ lifespans, made bats more tolerant of viruses. But how? The answer, according to Brook, is that the damage to a cell infected with a virus is similar to that caused by metabolic activity, and bats have evolved to dampen that response. The immune response to a virus is highly inflammatory. “What we experience as disease is actually immunopathology,” Brook explains. When you have a fever from the flu, for example, that’s your immune system’s response to the flu virus. But bats don’t develop these intense immune responses to the viruses they harbor. “We think that's really a byproduct of their adaptations for flight,” says Brook. That’s super cool, but it also could be very useful. If researchers can understand how bats handle these infections without becoming sick, they might learn how to make humans more resilient to infections. A team of U.S. and Canadian researchers led by Michael Letko has developed a new set of tools to help researchers do just that.Growing Bat CellsLetko is a molecular virologist at Washington State University. He and his team have recently cultured two new lines of bat cells that can be grown and divided indefinitely in the lab. The work was described in a paper published in PLOS Biology. These cell lines will be useful for learning how bats co-exist with viruses that can kill humans in droves. This could be crucial when the next pandemic arises, of course, but the utility of these cells goes beyond that. “Viruses oftentimes trigger all sorts of pathologies,” says Letko. “If we can understand how to control those pathologies, we can apply them to lots of other scenarios, not just infectious disease.”Some private labs are already culturing these cell lines, but they’re not available for outside researchers. Work funded by the U.S. government, however, must be shared freely. Letko’s research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was a collaborative effort of scientists from the U.S. and Canada. Letko and colleagues have arranged for these cell lines to be available to any researchers who need them for their work. “We have lots of experts who probably would be able to say something about what's going on in these animals if they had the ability to study it, but they don’t,” he says. “So we're hoping that putting this resource out there will let people with a wide range of backgrounds really get into this.” Humans didn’t develop the ability to fly. But we did develop the ability to study animals that do fly. And that’s turning out to be an even more useful skill.Article SourcesOur writers at Discovermagazine.com use peer-reviewed studies and high-quality sources for our articles, and our editors review for scientific accuracy and editorial standards. Review the sources used below for this article:Avery Hurt is a freelance science journalist. In addition to writing for Discover, she writes regularly for a variety of outlets, both print and online, including National Geographic, Science News Explores, Medscape, and WebMD. She’s the author of Bullet With Your Name on It: What You Will Probably Die From and What You Can Do About It, Clerisy Press 2007, as well as several books for young readers. Avery got her start in journalism while attending university, writing for the school newspaper and editing the student non-fiction magazine. Though she writes about all areas of science, she is particularly interested in neuroscience, the science of consciousness, and AI–interests she developed while earning a degree in philosophy.

By Vanessa Taylor Published May 17, 2025 | Comments (0) | Elon Musk waves as he arrives for a state dinner at the Lusail Palace on May 14, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. © Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images Starlink, Elon Musk’s satellite internet constellation that is run through SpaceX, has caught legislators’ attention. Democratic Senators this week called for an investigation into whether the Trump administration is using trade negotiations to benefit Musk. In a letter addressed to federal officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and acting director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics Jamieson Greer, a group of Democratic Senators wrote, “Musk may be using his official role and his proximity to the President as leverage for his own personal and financial benefit — even if it comes at the expensive of American consumers and the nation’s foreign policy interests.” The letter comes shortly after Musk accompanied Trump to Saudi Arabia on the president’s first overseas trip of his second term and announced Starlink’s approval in Saudi Arabia while the White House shared its newest defense and trade agreements. The senators, including Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), noted that Starlink has an “aggressive goal” of gaining a million new customers each year. However, Starlink has “struggled to secure agreements to operate in certain emerging markets” and its growth seemed slow last year. But then things shifted. “Since President Trump took office, and Musk became a top Trump advisor, Starlink has seen a rush of new countries permitting the company to enter their markets,” the senators wrote. For example, Lesotho awarded Musk its first-ever satellite internet service license shortly after Trump hit the country with high tariffs. Senators also highlighted recent deals with other countries “seeking a reprieve from the threat of the Trump administration’s unpredictable tariffs,” including India, Vietnam, and Bangladesh. The letter specifically mentions two articles from the Washington Post. First, an op-ed detailing that a Bangladeshi official met with Musk at the White House in February immediately after a trade meeting. There, Musk implied that the country “would not be able to get favorable trade terms” without granting Starlink access into Bangladesh. And then, a report in which the Post detailed how internal documents it obtained show that officials “have pushed nations to clear hurdles for U.S. satellite companies, often mentioning Starlink by name.” Although nothing shows the Trump administration “explicitly demand[ing] favors for Starlink in exchange for lower tariffs,” the Post reported that the State Department told officials to push for regulatory approvals. “Suggesting that a foreign government adopt Starlink in exchange for relief on tariffs appears to be a textbook case of corruption,” the senators said, while requesting an investigation into whether officials “pursued a quid-pro-quo exchange of Starlink access for tariff favors in violation of federal ethic laws.” In addition, the senators wrote that the State Department’s involvement raises additional concerns, including whether “these officials may be subverting the public’s interest in favor of Mr. Musk’s personal financial interests as they negotiate new tariff agreements — and whether they have been directed by [Musk] or [Trump] to do so.” The Senators requested that the State Department Inspector General investigate that matter. Daily Newsletter You May Also Like By AJ Dellinger Published May 17, 2025 By Matt Novak Published May 16, 2025 By Lucas Ropek Published May 15, 2025 By Vanessa Taylor Published May 15, 2025 By Matt Novak Published May 15, 2025 By Vanessa Taylor Published May 14, 2025

In 2020 and 2021, before I came to Vox, I worked as the future correspondent at Axios — yes, that was the actual job title — and I found myself writing almost solely about the Covid-19 pandemic, or major trends that appeared to be driven by the pandemic.One of those trends was an alarming rise in drug overdose deaths. The trajectory was already bad before Covid: Between the widespread prescription and misuse of legal opioids and then the introduction of the ultra-powerful drug fentanyl to the illicit drug supply, overdose deaths in the US began taking off in the early 2010s. But the closure of treatment facilities during the pandemic and the isolation of users led to a sudden spike in deaths: In the year leading up to September 2020, as I wrote in April 2021, more than 87,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, a higher total than any 12-month period of the opioid epidemic up to that point. Despair, and then hopeAfter publishing that piece, I received a letter from a reader, who said her son had been one of those 87,000 deaths. She begged me to give this issue more coverage, to remind my readers that behind the Covid pandemic, there was a shadow epidemic of drug deaths, of lost sons and daughters and husbands and wives. People had to stop closing their eyes to the toll of death and pain.RelatedThe opioid epidemic, explainedIn the years that followed, the toll only continued to grow, however, with deaths reaching 110,000 in 2023. There seemed to be no answer for one of the worst public health crises in a generation. But now, at long last, we finally appear to be turning the corner on the drug overdose crisis. Provisional figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Vital Statistics System released this week show that some 27,000 fewer Americans died of a drug overdose in 2024 than in 2023. That year-on-year drop is the steepest single-year decline since the government first began keeping track of overdose deaths 45 years ago. It means that drug deaths are now finally coming back down to pre-pandemic levels — and that we can make progress on what can seem like the most intractable social ills.RelatedDrug overdose deaths are in a free fall — for now27,000 livesTo put that 27,000 drop in deaths into perspective, think of it this way: It adds up to three lives saved every hour for an entire year. What’s remarkable about the rapid drop in overdose deaths is just how widespread the trend is. Forty-five states recorded declines in deaths, with Ohio and West Virginia — two states that have suffered more than almost any other from the opioid epidemic — leading the way. Only a handful of states, mostly in the Northwest, where the epidemic started later, experienced increases. While synthetic opioids, which mostly means fentanyl, are still responsible for the vast majority of overdose deaths, deaths from such drugs are falling faster than any other, declining by 36 percent year over year. Reversing the overdose epidemicOne of the biggest factors behind the decline is the growing availability of naloxone, an opioid antagonist. If administered in the immediate aftermath of an overdose, naloxone has been shown to be close to 99 percent effective in preventing death. The key is speed — even the fastest emergency medical responders may not make it to the scene in time to save someone suffering an overdose. But recent policies to make naloxone available over the counter, and to advise users to have it on hand, have made it possible to bring back thousands of people who otherwise would have died.While the pandemic directly led to a significant spike in overdose deaths, policies that came out of Covid have helped curb the toll, including telehealth access to medicine-based treatment options for addiction like buprenorphine. All of these programs have been paid for in part by the billions of dollars in opioid-settlement cash from drug companies like Johnson & Johnson, which began flowing to state and local governments in 2024. Tougher enforcement on fentanyl has played a role as well. Lastly — and less positively — the sheer number of overdose deaths in the past few years has depleted the number of people at highest risk. Like an infectious disease epidemic that slows down as it begins to run out of new people to infect, the overdose epidemic burned so hot and killed so many that drug users who were left were less vulnerable to fatal overdoses.What comes nextThe news isn’t all good. While synthetic opioids like fentanyl appear to be in a steep decline, deaths actually rose last year from stimulants like meth and cocaine, with production of the latter surging to new highs. The increase in deaths in a handful of states like Alaska and Washington demonstrates that in some parts of the country, at least, there are still populations that remain highly vulnerable to fatal overdoses.Most worryingly, the Trump administration’s draft budget proposes major cuts to naloxone distribution, which could take the most potent tool for stopping overdose deaths out of the hands of those who need it most. Still, we should recognize this new data for what it is — evidence that, with effort, we can reverse the course of one of the biggest public health threats the US faces. Thousands of people are alive today who, if nothing had changed since I was writing about this epidemic in 2021, might have suffered a worse fate. Drug addiction is a horrible disease that can destroy futures, families, and lives. But where there is life, there is hope. Every overdose victim brought back by a spray of naloxone has another chance to change their future, and ensure that they won’t become another statistic. A version of this story originally appeared in the Good News newsletter. 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Royal Navy 2025-05-17T13:15:23Z Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? A UK warship shot down a supersonic missile in what the Royal Navy called a "historic first." The HMS Dragon warship "obliterated" the missile in a test off the coast of Scotland. The Type 45 air defense destroyer is one of the UK's most advanced warships. One of the British Royal Navy's most advanced warships, the HMS Dragon, completed a "historic first" when it shot down a supersonic missile in a test off the coast of Scotland on Friday, the force said.The Type 45 air defense destroyer fired a modified Sea Viper missile and "obliterated" an "incoming high-speed target" that was designed to imitate some of the latest and most advanced threats facing the force around the world, the navy said in a press release.It added that it marked "the first time the Royal Navy has faced down this kind of target," which it said was "significantly more challenging as it flies faster and carries out corkscrew and weave manoeuvres."Footage shared by the Royal Navy on X shows the strike, which occurred as part of Exercise Formidable Shield 25, a large-scale NATO live-firing exercise taking place in Norway and the UK this year.Commander Iain Giffin, the commanding officer of the HMS Dragon, said the strike was "a huge moment" for the destroyer."Not only does it prove that Dragon's world leading air defence capability functions as it should following an extensive maintenance period, but it also proves our ability to integrate and operate alongside NATO allies and partners," he said. "Training alongside ships, aircraft and land forces from 11 nations in this complex, multi-domain exercise ensures that we maintain our fighting edge against evolving Hi and Low-tech threats." The HMS Dragon Type 45 air defense destroyer. Royal Navy The HMS Dragon is a Type 45 destroyer and one of the UK's most advanced warships. It forms part of the Royal Navy's six "Daring Class" destroyers, which were custom-built for anti-aircraft and anti-missile combat.With more than 200 crew, the vessel plays a key role in Britain's air defenses, using its Sea Viper missile system to seek out and neutralise threats. Dragon can also be deployed to provide assistance in disaster relief scenarios and counter-narcotics boarding operations.The UK has been testing out a range of new strike capabilities on its warships in recent years.In 2024, the UK's Ministry of Defence first showed off its new DragonFire laser weapon, with video footage showing it in action off the coast of Scotland.The laser directed energy weapon is a high-power, low-cost weapon system designed to target aerial threats with "pinpoint accuracy," according to the UK government.A UK Ministry of Defence official told Business Insider in March that it was planning to deploy the weapon on four Royal Navy destroyers by 2027. Recommended video

The big picture: A rise of AI shopping agents is promising to reshape the retail landscape in ways that are only beginning to come into focus. As Walmart navigates this frontier, the company's moves highlight a critical truth: the race to win over AI shoppers is just beginning, and the rules are being written on the fly. Walmart is gearing up for a dramatic shift in retail, as artificial intelligence agents begin to change not just how people shop, but who – or rather, what – is actually doing the shopping. The retail giant is exploring ways to make its products appealing not just to human customers, but also to the AI bots that may soon be making purchasing decisions on behalf of consumers. "It will be different," Hari Vasudev, Walmart US Chief Technology Officer, told the Wall Street Journal. "Advertising will have to evolve." Indeed, AI's influence is already visible today in how consumers research products, with search engines increasingly favoring AI-generated summaries over traditional links. But the next phase – AI agents making purchases independently – promises a far greater disruption. Imagine a future where a user tells OpenAI's Operator, "Restock my pantry" or "Find a 65-inch TV." The agent scans the web, evaluates options based on the user's history and preferences, and completes the purchase, payment included. For retailers, this means rethinking everything from product descriptions to pricing strategies, said Robert Hetu, a retail analyst at Gartner. The stakes are high: if third-party agents handle checkout, retailers risk losing direct relationships with customers, weakening brand loyalty and access to valuable data. Walmart isn't waiting passively. It's developing its own AI shopping tools, accessible via its app and website, capable of handling tasks as routine as weekly grocery reorders or as whimsical as planning a "unicorn-themed party for my daughter," Vasudev noted. The retailer's e-commerce sales surged 22 percent last quarter, yet it's also preparing for a scenario where shoppers prefer third-party agents like Operator. Vasudev predicts an industry-wide protocol will emerge, allowing third-party agents to communicate with retailers' systems. These standards, still in development, would let retailers share tailored product recommendations. Alternatively, agents might scan sites independently, akin to a shopper browsing a store without assistance, Vasudev said. // Related Stories But retailers face challenges. Agents like Operator prioritize factors such as search rankings, including paid ads and sponsored posts, when surfacing products. While user prompts and preferences remain central, this algorithmic approach contrasts sharply with human behavior. Bots won't linger on emotionally charged visuals, Hetu explained, and retailers must make lightning-fast pricing decisions by offering discounts or risking instant price comparisons by agents. Despite the buzz, Hetu tempers expectations. Over 80 percent of shopping still happens in physical stores, and AI-driven purchases remain a sliver of sales. "This is going to take time to transform," he said.