U.S. Navy destroyer lost power for 4 days in South China Sea; Kushner, Netanyahu make little progress on advancing Gaza deal after...
News and markets
- Global headlines: U.S. Navy destroyer lost power for 4 days in South China Sea (The ship’s crew lost access last month to drinkable water, running toilets and air conditioning, as the fleet sees heavy use by the Trump administration); Kushner, Netanyahu make little progress on advancing Gaza deal after meeting (President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy first held rare talks with Hamas’s new leader in Egypt over the weekend in his effort to advance the stalled 15-point plan); and Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises (A day after attributing the decision to a good relationship with North Korea, President Donald Trump also tied the move to South Korea’s refusal to help with the Strait of Hormuz).
- Markets leaned lower, with 6 of 7 tracked indexes down; Nikkei 225 down 1.62% was the largest move.
- Benchmarks tracked: S&P 500, NASDAQ Composite, Euronext 100 Index, and Public Joint-Stock Company Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS plus 3 more indexes.
Hacker News and Product Hunt
- Hacker News: How Bluesky draws its logo on screenshots (The secret is humble UITextField); Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full (In the mid-90s the coolest thing to buy for a PC, besides the incredibly expensive Intel Pentium , was a CD-ROM drive . With their...); and GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50% (GPT-5.6 Sol is the flagship model in OpenAI's GPT-5.6 series. $2.50 per million input tokens, $15 per million output tokens. 1,050,000...).
- Product Hunt features Samepage Artifacts (A context-aware, connected writing surface for product teams), Skriptr (AI workspace for students), and Vendo (Let your users build their own features inside your product).
Global Headlines
Top stories across selected outlets, presented in a fast daily brief format.
U.S. Navy destroyer lost power for 4 days in South China Sea
The ship’s crew lost access last month to drinkable water, running toilets and air conditioning, as the fleet sees heavy use by the Trump administration.
Kushner, Netanyahu make little progress on advancing Gaza deal after meeting
President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy first held rare talks with Hamas’s new leader in Egypt over the weekend in his effort to advance the stalled 15-point plan.
Trump defends his move to cut back U.S.-South Korea military exercises
A day after attributing the decision to a good relationship with North Korea, President Donald Trump also tied the move to South Korea’s refusal to help with the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’
The threat came in response to a question about negotiations between Iran and Oman regarding control of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a reporter.
U.S. commander calls mental health a priority after he visits USS Lincoln
Amid reports of burnout and poor conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, Adm. Brad Cooper acknowledged that long stretches at sea can be challenging but said some of the concerns were "old news."
Large fire breaks out at fuel depot near Iraq’s Sulaimaniyah
At least 20 injured and dozens of fuel tankers destroyed as flames rip through warehouse near northern Kurdish city.
Zambia’s Hichilema wins second term as president
Official results show Hichilema receiving about 60 percent of votes, compared with 38 percent for his main challenger.
Trump rejects MoU extension with Iran as US claims total control of Hormuz
US president says Iran should 'put up the white flag of surrender' as the two nations’ MoU expired on Monday.
‘We will not allow Gaza to be rebuilt’ until Hamas disarms, Kushner says
Trump's son-in-law and envoy says US will not 'restrict Israel's right to defend itself' as strikes on Gaza continue.
As rubble clears, Colombia begins focusing on recovery after the earthquake
A week after a deadly quake, Colombia turns from rescue efforts to shelter, aid and rebuilding.
Part of a key firearms law lapsed following a federal court decision. What happens now?
A federal judge's decision in Texas has major implications for the National Firearms Act. What does this mean for certain guns and other weapons?
Former federal prosecutor is suing DOJ for 'unlawful and retaliatory' firing
A federal prosecutor who was fired earlier this year is suing the DOJ, alleging she was unlawfully dismissed for political reasons tied to her work prosecuting a case against anti-abortion activists.
Democratic Rep. Jimmy Gomez being investigated over sexual misconduct allegations
The California Democrat has admitted to "personal mistakes" outside his marriage but also says his actions were consensual in nature and did not violate House ethics rules.
DHS defends investigating agency critics and giving them warning notices
Federal officials acknowledged that ICE special agents tracked a New York man to his house, the airport and a hotel to question him about a critical email he sent to the former head of ICE in January.
USS Washington to relieve USS Lincoln. And, Jared Kushner to meet with Netanyahu
The USS Washington is on its way to the Middle East to relieve the USS Lincoln amid concerns about conditions aboard. And, Jared Kushner is expected to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu to move Gaza talks forward.
Poll to decide Malaysia's national fruit
KUALA LUMPUR — The Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security of Malaysia is proposing that the Department of Statistics Malaysia conduct a nationwide survey to gather public views on the choice for national fruit.
Hamas urges pressure on Israel
CAIRO/JERUSALEM — Palestinian militant group Hamas on Sunday urged mediators and guarantors to press Israel to approve the road map for the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.
Global ties vital as geopolitical risks reshape Los Angeles business
Los Angeles businesses are operating in a period of structurally higher geopolitical risk, but the region's deep economic connections with China and other Asian markets make international engagement increasingly important to its competitiveness, business and city leaders said.
53 dead in Indonesia quake as rescue efforts continue
The death toll from a powerful earthquake that struck Indonesia's eastern islands has risen to 53, authorities said on Sunday, as rescuers searched for survivors trapped beneath landslides and collapsed buildings.
US set to reduce drills with ROK
United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday that he has ordered the Pentagon to "substantially reduce" joint military exercises with the Republic of Korea, announcing the decision just before the two countries' annual drill kicked off.
Supreme Court halts HC proceedings against Rahul Gandhi in disproportionate assets case
Supreme Court halts proceedings against Rahul Gandhi, emphasising the need for courts to uphold principles of natural justice.
SC to look into plea to distinguish between criticism of judiciary and online distortion of what judges actually say in court
Supreme Court to address plea distinguishing judicial criticism from online distortions of court statements, emphasising judicial integrity.
Ram Temple donations theft: SC says ball is in SIT’s court, suggestions can be directed to Solicitor General’s office
Supreme Court urges Special Investigation Team to conclude Ram Temple donations theft probe, allowing public suggestions to Solicitor General.
Can SHANTI Act deter courts from fixing ‘suitable’ compensation for nuclear disasters, SC asks
Supreme Court questions Centre on courts' authority to grant compensation under the SHANTI Act for nuclear accidents.
Nitin Nabin announces his team; Smriti Irani, Ram Madhav make a comeback, Amit Malviya out
BJP appoints 13 new vice-presidents, including Vasundhara Raje and Ram Madhav, in a major organizational reshuffle.
Foreign holdings of US Treasuries fall in June, led by Japan, UK, China, data shows
Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries slid in June, data from the Treasury Department showed on Monday, led by declines in holdings from Japan, the UK and China.
EXCLUSIVE: Trump approval falls to 33%, lowest of his presidency, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds
An overwhelming majority of Americans are concerned the U.S. war with Iran will last a long time, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
Trump says North Korea's Kim has responded to his overtures
A day after he ordered the United States to scale back military exercises with South Korea and called North Korea "unthreatening and respectful," U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had responded to his outreach.
Erdogan urges Trump to pursue talks with Iran, offers support
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan urged U.S. President Donald Trump in a phone call to pursue talks with Iran to de-escalate tensions between the two countries, and offered Ankara's support for peace efforts, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday.
Paramount seeks $1.88 billion bond from state AGs over merger lawsuit
Paramount Skydance on Monday asked a U.S. judge to require a dozen states challenging its acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery to post a $1.88 billion bond to address the costs of delay in completing a tie-up.
Market Snapshot
Latest completed sessions across the selected benchmark indexes.
| Index | Region | Session Date | Value | Change | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
S&P 500 | US | 2026-08-18 | 7745.06 | -40.70 (-0.52%) | Down |
NASDAQ Composite | US | 2026-08-18 | 26644.91 | -84.25 (-0.32%) | Down |
Euronext 100 Index | Europe | 2026-08-18 | 1970.91 | 1.04 (0.05%) | Up |
Public Joint-Stock Company Moscow Exchange MICEX-RTS | Europe | 2026-08-18 | 85.20 | -0.11 (-0.13%) | Down |
HANG SENG INDEX | Asia | 2026-08-18 | 25260.01 | -193.22 (-0.76%) | Down |
Nikkei 225 | Asia | 2026-08-18 | 68098.54 | -1121.71 (-1.62%) | Down |
S&P BSE SENSEX | India | 2026-08-18 | 77728.16 | -281.09 (-0.36%) | Down |
Hacker News
Ten notable links from the last day in the Hacker News ecosystem.
Quake Shareware, a CD-ROM just a little too full
In the mid-90s the coolest thing to buy for a PC, besides the incredibly expensive Intel Pentium , was a CD-ROM drive . With their capacity of 640 MiB (three times the storage of PC HDD at the time), CDs allowed enthusiasts to step into a world of multimedia, made of high-resolution 640x480 256 colors palette-indexed photos [1] , VOC soundtracks, and play with Video For Windows butter-smooth 12 fps 240x179 videos [2] [3] lasting up to several seconds.
GPT-5.6 Sol Pricing Cut by 50%
GPT-5.6 Sol is the flagship model in OpenAI's GPT-5.6 series. $2.50 per million input tokens, $15 per million output tokens. 1,050,000 token context window, maximum output of 128,000 tokens. Higher uptime with 3 providers. Includes independent benchmarks from Artificial Analysis.
A Preview of DuckDB v2.0
DuckDB v2.0 is coming this fall. In this post, we preview its headline features: DuckDB as a server, triggers, the VARIANT type, asynchronous I/O, a new SQL parser, a new storage format, and much more.
Fairphone 6 and PostmarketOS working main camera
Today i bring the working main camera! Building on the work nondescriptpointer did on the wide lens camera i have written the driver for the main camera and now its working alongside auto focus and color correction. The color correction still a work in progress, but you can…
GPU Offload in Rust: Portable, Safe, and Fast
High-performance GPU programming has traditionally forced a compromise between execution efficiency and memory safety. While Rust guarantees compile-time memory safety for host CPUs via its strict ownership model, applying these constraints to massively parallel GPU execution environments has previously mandated either vendor-locked Domain-Specific Languages (DSLs) or escaping to explicit unsafe raw pointers. This paper presents a zero-overhead, multi-vendor GPU compilation framework built natively into the Rust compiler (rustc) and LLVM backends. We leverage Rust's rich type system, ownership system, and strict aliasing guarantees (noalias) to efficiently manage and optimize data transfers through LLVM's Offload infrastructure. We expose the technical challenges of cross-vendor ABI lowering mismatches between Host and Device targets and introduce a two-pass compilation pipeline capable of safely handling both manual and compiler-generated memory movements. Evaluating our framework on RAJAPerf demonstrates that our rustc-based solution can generate competitive LLVM IR for GPU kernels, achieving a solid kernel performance against native, hand-optimized CUDA and HIP C++ baselines.
AI-Generated GitHub Copilot “Autofix” Allowed Compromise of Snowflake's Jira
Wiz Red Agent finds its way into Snowflake's internal Jira through a flaw in a GitHub Copilot–Assisted PR.
AI;DR (AI; Didn't Read)
I'm about as pro-AI as you can be, but this is becoming a pet peeve of mine (and I'm not alone). That's why I love the AI;DR acronym as my new solution for ignoring the walls of slop.
GPT 5.6 Sol is the best "vision" model OpenAI ever released
GPT-5.6 Sol is OpenAI’s strongest vision model yet. We tested Sol, Terra, and Luna across detection, counting, OCR, and extraction, then compared their results, speed, and cost with leading VLMs.
Repair Cafe – Fix Your Broken Items
Repair Café is a global initiative that promotes the culture of repair. Join us in fixing things together and contribute to a more sustainable future.
Product Hunt
Featured products from the latest public Product Hunt listings.
Source Notes
Generation details, data coverage, and any partial-source warnings for this edition.