UN urges AI firms to come clean on their environmental costs
UN urges AI firms to come clean on their environmental costs

The United Nations wants artificial-intelligence companies to stop treating the environmental bill as somebody else’s problem. In a call amplified this week by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the organisation is pressing the firms behind the AI boo…

UK weighs forcing social media platforms to surface trusted news
UK weighs forcing social media platforms to surface trusted news

Ministers are considering rules that would make BBC, ITV, and Channel 4 content easier to find on Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok, as more Britons get their news from feeds. Britain’s culture department said on Monday that it is considering requiring soc…

Trump signs orders calling for a powerful quantum computer by 2028
Trump signs orders calling for a powerful quantum computer by 2028

Two executive orders set a research-grade target, push the post-quantum cryptography deadline to 2031, and tie $2bn in grants to government equity stakes. President Donald Trump signed two executive orders on quantum computing on 22 June 2026, the firs…

Anthropic’s new privacy policy collects biometric data from flagged Claude users
Anthropic’s new privacy policy collects biometric data from flagged Claude users

Anthropic has updated its privacy policy to allow the company to require some Claude users to upload government-issued identification and submit selfie photos or videos for identity verification. The updated policy, which takes effect on July 8, introd…

A Tesla on Autopilot plowed into a Texas home. The woman inside didn’t survive.
A Tesla on Autopilot plowed into a Texas home. The woman inside didn’t survive.

A 76-year-old Texas woman died on Friday after a Tesla Model 3 driver told police he was using the car’s Autopilot feature when he lost control and crashed into her family’s home at high speed. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Michael …

Germany tells Trump: you cannot get to the moon without us
Germany tells Trump: you cannot get to the moon without us

Germany’s space minister has a message for Washington: the dependence runs both ways. In an interview with Politico at the VivaTech trade show in Paris this week, Dorothee Bär said Europe provides “critical key technologies” for American space missions…

Ireland takes the EU presidency with Big Tech paying 40 per cent of its tax bill
Ireland takes the EU presidency with Big Tech paying 40 per cent of its tax bill

Ireland takes over the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on 1 July, inheriting a legislative agenda that includes proposals to curb Europe’s reliance on American tech, simplify the bloc’s digital rulebook, decide whether to ban children from…

China hits back at the Pentagon with curbs on 56 US firms
China hits back at the Pentagon with curbs on 56 US firms

China’s new trade curbs target 56 US companies, from rare-earth miners to drone makers. It is direct retaliation for Washington adding Chinese firms to its military blacklist. China has answered the Pentagon’s blacklist with one of its own. On Monday, …

China’s green-power target for AI data centres runs into the grid
China’s green-power target for AI data centres runs into the grid

The cleanest way to power a data centre is also the least predictable. The sun sets, the wind drops, and a server hall full of AI accelerators does not care: it wants the same steady draw at three in the morning that it wanted at noon. That mismatch is…

New York City has defeated Waymo, and the taxi lobby is the reason
New York City has defeated Waymo, and the taxi lobby is the reason

Waymo delivers more than 500,000 paid rides per week across 10 US cities, raised $16 billion in February, and is expanding internationally to Tokyo and London. It cannot operate in New York City. The reason is not technical, it is political. As the New…