Nov 6, 2026
WASHINGTON — The United States is warning of an "ongoing cyber threat" to industrial refrigeration systems, saying in a statement issued Thursday that every organization that depends on cold storage should assume it could fall into the hackers' crosshairs. The statement said that unidentified "malicious cyber actors" were targeting vulnerabilities in internet-accessible electronic temperature and commercial refrigeration controllers in retail grocery and cold storage facilities. "If successfully exploited, the actors could change the temperature and possibly cause physical impacts such as fire hazards, loss of inventory and changes to the service life of the system," said the statement, which was issued by the FBI, the cyber defense agency CISA, and other government departments. "Every organization that depends on refrigeration and monitoring systems should assume it could be a target," said Chris Butera, CISA's acting executive assistant director for cybersecurity.
PARIS — France’s Interior Ministry said more than 600,000 people rallied Thursday across France, including in Paris, to demand higher wages and school funding in nationwide strikes and demonstrations. After more than a month of large, recurring protests across France, major rallies took place again in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and elsewhere, most of which were peaceful. The Interior Ministry said the figures were still provisional. Hundreds of thousands of people joined nationwide strikes and demonstrations in France on Thursday to demand higher wages and support the student protest movement, piling fresh pressure on the beleaguered government. After more than a month of large, recurring protests across France, major rallies took place again in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and elsewhere. The Paris march began peacefully on Thursday afternoon at Place de la République. The large crowd included many students carrying signs reading, “Inequalities seriously jeopardize our future” and “We can’t spend our whole lives just trying to make a living.” They were joined by workers and retirees
NEW YORK — Another wipeout for stocks tied to the buildout of AI data centers is overwhelming Wall Street on Thursday and more than erasing all its gains from the day before, which was its best in three months. The S&P 500 fell 3.2 percent after opening with a loss that accelerated through the morning. It’s on track for its worst drop since President Donald Trump shook markets worldwide in April 2025 after announcing his “Liberation Day” tariffs. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1,146 points, or 2.1 percent, as of 11 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 5 percent lower. Stock markets worldwide felt pressure from continued drops for companies that benefited from the boom for the artificial-intelligence technology industry, and South Korea’s Kospi index tumbled 5.3 percent. Such stocks have been swinging for months on worries that the construction of further AI data centers may slow because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money . Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections added another challenge. The nationwide victories by Democrats raised the possibility th
WASHINGTON — Korean American Rep. Dave Min (D-CA) of the U.S. Democratic Party won reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives, securing a second term in Congress, according to a race projection. The AP has called the race for Min over Republican Jenny Rae Le Roux in California's 47th congressional district as vote counting continued following Tuesday's midterm elections. With 62 percent of the vote counted, Min had secured 56.9 percent, leading Le Roux by 13.8 percentage points. Min, 50, was born in Rhode Island in 1976 to Korean immigrant parents. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School before working as an enforcement attorney at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. He later taught law at the University of California, Irvine, before entering politics. Min first ran for Congress in 2018 but finished third in the Democratic primary. He later won a seat in the California State Senate in 2020 and worked on legislation involving gun control and environmental protection. He made a successful second bid for the U.S. House in 2024, narrowly defeati
LONDON — Russell Brand, the risque comic who bragged for years of his sexual exploits, was convicted Thursday of raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others on allegations dating back years. The British actor-comedian faces a “significant” prison term when he is sentenced Monday, Judge Joel Bennathan said. Brand had been free, but he was taken into custody after the judge rejected a bail request to let him see his kids because of the possibility he might flee. “I regret the hardship caused to the children, of course,” the judge said. “But the hardship has been caused by serious criminal offending by their father.” Brand was a ruthless, calculating, manipulative “sexual predator," prosecutor Riel Karmy-Jones said at trial. The 51-year-old father of three denied the charges and testified that he was obsessed with sex as a young man and once led a promiscuous life but had never forced anyone to do something against their will. He was convicted of one count of rape and three counts of sexual assault. He was acquitted of two rape counts and one count of attempted inde
PARIS — The world is on track for 2026 to be the second-hottest year on record as an exceptionally strong El Nino weather pattern turbocharges human-driven global warming, the EU's climate monitor said Friday. This year still has a "20 percent chance of tying or exceeding" 2024 as the warmest ever seen, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said in a monthly bulletin. Global temperatures are now "virtually certain" to exceed 1.5C above pre-industrial levels in 2026, Copernicus said. The four-year average from 2023 to 2026 is also expected to top 1.5C, the preferred limit set in the Paris Agreement to avert the worst impacts of climate change. The world experienced its warmest October on record, with average global surface air temperatures 1.75C above pre-industrial times, an era defined as 1850-1900, Copernicus added. "October has continued the pattern of remarkable global warmth, with record global and surface ocean temperatures," said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which operates Copernicus. "An exceptiona
WASHINGTON, United States, Nov 6, 2026 (AFP) - A US federal judge blocked President Donald Trump's massive triumphal arch project on Thursday, casting doubt over the future of the project hours after it was green-lit by a public commission. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is overseeing the case, ruled that the Trump administration cannot start construction on the arch for two weeks while the court considers challenges to its legality. The National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) had voted 8-4 to approve the project earlier Thursday, despite hearing hours of testimony from dozens of furious opponents who questioned its legality and purpose. Chief among the complaints was the location of the 250-foot (76-meter) tall structure: adjacent to the hallowed Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place for hundreds of thousands of American service members. The giant arch would be much taller than the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, its inspiration. It would also tower over the Lincoln Memorial, directly across the Potomac River. The four dissenting commissioners had called for the decision
SAN FRANCISCO — Silicon Valley bosses who spent two years cozying up to U.S. President Donald Trump now face a Democratic Congress already threatening subpoenas, after midterm elections in which antipathy toward artificial intelligence swayed voters. "AI company CEOs should be called to testify under oath," Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said on Tuesday. Senator Ed Markey, for his part, warned tech executives they would need to "plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we'll be printing." It is a cold shower for tech bosses who rallied behind Trump after his 2024 win, with Elon Musk, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and others front and center at his January 2025 inauguration. Musk went furthest, spending more than $250 million to help elect Trump and then taking charge of his DOGE cost-cutting drive. He poured nearly half a billion dollars more into backing Republicans in the midterms. Once they take control of both chambers on January 3, Democrats will control the committees that can compel an executive to testify or hand over internal do
NEW YORK — Three people accused of using artificial intelligence to impersonate corporate executives and attorneys to steal about $129 million have been indicted on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, prosecutors said Thursday. Over more than a year and a half, Jacob Soall, 41, Sharon Hazan, 54, and Guy Sheetrit, 42, targeted thousands of companies across the world in their AI scheme, according to the indictment filed in a U.S. District Court in New York. Their victims included hospital systems in Missouri and California, a bank in Rhode Island, a financial technology company in the United Kingdom, a mutual fund company in Massachusetts and a pet food company in Florida, according to court documents. The defendants, from Spain, the UK, Israel and United Arab Emirates, were also charged with money laundering, according to the indictment. The case docket, which typically lists information on defense lawyers, was still listed as sealed in online court records as of Thursday evening. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York did not immediately res
NEW YORK — Four men named in a former Cornell University student’s lawsuit are joining a co-defendant’s effort to block New York’s attorney general from leading a reopened criminal investigation into the woman’s gang rape allegations, according to court filings on Thursday. The co-defendant’s lawyers said the men agreed to be added to a court petition that seeks Attorney General Letitia James' removal from the case because of social media posts she made prior to her involvement in which she condemned the alleged assault and expressed support for the accuser. The development comes a day after James appointed Jacqueline Kelly, a former federal prosecutor who oversaw sex crimes cases against music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs , as outside counsel for the investigation. She and a team of lawyers and investigators will be responsible for evidence gathering, witness interviews and other investigative steps. They will report to James. A judge heard arguments last week on one of the accused men’s request to remove James but said he wouldn't rule without knowing if the six other la
WASHINGTON — Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa said on Thursday that the state will introduce laws to protect its residents with regards to data centers, citing their impact on rural communities. With plentiful energy supplies, relatively cheap land and a pro-business policy, Texas has become one of the leading regions in the world for data center developments. "Data centers have moved into mostly rural communities, and there are no rules and laws to protect Texans," Democrat Hinojosa, who beat Republican incumbent Greg Abbott in Tuesday's election, told CNN in an interview. "We will have laws to protect Texans, and we need to stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections," she said, adding that communities should have "a seat at the table" on if and how data centers operate in their areas. US President Donald Trump's administration has strongly backed data center expansion as a national priority, but the public is increasingly opposed to such projects, citing concerns about electricity demand, water consumption, wildlife impacts and public access to federal
WASHINGTON — US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a video message on Thursday vowing to fight efforts in Congress to impeach him and defending the Iran war as “courageous and historic” after voters punished Republicans over it in this week’s midterm elections. Hegseth's remarks, posted on social media, came as taunts from his foes in Congress intensified and President Donald Trump swatted away questions about whether he might fire Hegseth. Trump has commended his Pentagon chief. The top Democrat in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, asked in a post: "Why is Pete Hegseth still around?" Hegseth, a former Fox News host, has been a polarizing figure who has made enemies even within his own Republican Party. Critics in Congress are targeting his conduct of the Iran war, which Vice President JD Vance has said cost Republicans control of Congress, his firing of top military officers and strained relations with lawmakers as the administration seeks a $1.5 trillion defense spending package. Democrats, who won control of Congress in Tuesday's elections, have promised to inv
