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A WIRED investigation linked more than 400 apps and domains to a commercially operated network that disguised tools for nonconsensual sexual deepfakes as benign services such as pet-picture apps and workout coaches. Researchers found conditional app behavior, shared code, hidden explicit interfaces, and hundreds of thousands of downloads. Apple, Google, and Meta removed or restricted parts of the network, but similar apps and ads continued appearing as reporting concluded.

US oil and gas companies earned more than $130 billion in the six months through September as war-related disruptions lifted crude and fuel prices, while US households spent an estimated additional $150 billion on petrol and diesel. The article attributes gains to damaged infrastructure, disrupted shipping and tighter supplies, while warning that prolonged high prices could weaken growth and accelerate the shift to renewables. The profit estimate is described as conservative, and the outlook depends heavily on whether diplomatic settlement or renewed conflict follows.

Freedom-of-information responses from 29 NHS trusts challenge NHS England’s claim that those hospitals are “realising benefits” from Palantir’s £330m Federated Data Platform. Several trusts said the system was not live or was not being operationally used, while NHS England said some counted infrastructure, back-office analysis or data submission as benefits. The discrepancy has renewed scrutiny of the contract, including claims about additional operations that NHS England previously acknowledged it could not prove were caused by the platform.

Ukraine and Russia say their public air-warning apps were hacked after false alerts warned users about missile, radiation, chemical and street-fighting threats. Ukraine temporarily disabled its app and urged residents to rely on other official channels. Russia said its system was also attacked but that the wider alert network was unaffected. The incidents may be connected, though responsibility is unknown; informal language in some messages has led experts to consider hacktivist involvement. The episode highlights the risks of compromising trusted emergency communications during wartime.

A five-month Western Australian police trial scanned 1,380,882 faces across 100 deployments and produced 122 arrests, according to police. It also generated nine incorrect alerts, prompting civil-liberties groups to challenge the force's framing of the error rate and question whether mass biometric surveillance is proportionate without reasonable suspicion. Police say non-matches were pixelated and immediately deleted; the vans have been withdrawn pending an internal review of safeguards and community impacts.

Pennsylvania has recorded 1,398 measles cases and five associated deaths as health officials intensify vaccination outreach in Lancaster County, where fewer than one-third of Amish residents were previously estimated to be immunized. The report finds that vaccine hesitation reflects limited healthcare access, family tradition and broader misinformation rather than a formal religious ban. State and federal officials dispute the death count and blame each other politically, while similar outbreaks and school disputes spread elsewhere. The available Amish vaccination data remain incomplete.