More than 500 Rohingya vanished at sea - what happened? Two boats carrying an estimated 530 Rohingya asylum seekers left Myanmar's Rakhine state on 29 June, and have not been heard from since. The equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people has vanished. It is very likely that they both capsized. The monsoon has started, the seas are rough, and the boats - usually old fishing trawlers converted to carry as many people as possible - are barely sea-worthy with unreliable engines.

Australia'deeply frustrated' over Laos methanol poisoning charges The Australian government has said it is deeply frustrated and bitterly disappointed that Laos is not pursuing more serious charges in relation to the deaths of six backpackers who died after drinking methanol-laced alcohol in 2024. Australians Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, were among six people who died at a hostel in Vang Vieng in November 2024. The statement comes after reports in Australian media that Laos would press charges that collectively carry penalties of up to one year in jail and a fine of A$1600 ($1100; £829) against those allegedly responsible. Australian Foreign Ministry Penny Wong said they have summoned Laos' ambassador to Canberra. Laos has yet to confirm any charges but the BBC understands authorities there will hold a press conference later on Friday.

China has hit out at the nationalisation of British Steel, saying it firmly opposes and is strongly dissatisfied with the British government's decision. On Thursday, the UK government said that taking the loss-making firm into public hands would protect jobs and safeguard a vital national capability. The UK took control of British Steel's operations in Scunthorpe last year, though it was still owned by China's Jingye Group, limiting the government's ability to steer its future. China's commerce ministry said on Friday that the moves seriously infringed upon Jingye's legitimate rights and interests and severely undermined the confidence of Chinese companies investing in the UK. It also called on Britain to faithfully fulfil its obligations under the China-UK Bilateral Investment Treaty. Disregarding Jingye's significant contribution to the UK economy and society, the British side forcibly took control of the company in the name of national security, the ministry said.

The Philippines has condemned the dehumanising and racist portrayal of the country as a timid monkey strong-armed by the US and Japan to take Beijing on over the South China Sea . Last week, China Daily posted an AI-generated video featuring a monkey in a Filipino shirt. It screams as arms bearing the Japanese and US flags shove it onto a rickety karaoke stage set up in a boat. After it gets scolded for singing the wrong song, it pulls out a sheet reading South China Sea arbitration award. It is then flung into the sea and blasted by a water cannon.

China's AI ascendance gives Xi a stage and a security dilemma The rise of China's AI models is handing President Xi Jinping new bragging rights and a stronger claim to shaping the technology's global rules. The rise of China's AI models is handing President Xi Jinping new bragging rights and a stronger claim to shaping the technology's global rules, even as their growing power stirs security alarm in Washington and Beijing alike. Xi is expected to make his case in his debut at the World AI Conference in Shanghai starting Friday, an event that previously attracted Elon Musk and Jack Ma. He'll be addressing scores of tech and government leaders as Chinese models win over companies worldwide, with their share of U.S. firms' AI usage nearing record 60% on the popular marketplace OpenRouter. In what could be a preview of Xi's position, state media this week cast China's openness as the antidote to a world of walls. The Communist Party's flagship mouthpiece People's Daily warned against an "AI Iron Curtain," contrasting an "oil mindset" that hoards data and computing power with a "water" approach that treats AI as a public good for all, without naming any country.

Pete Hegseth's Plan for'High T' Troops Is a Junk-Science Fever Dream The defense secretary's idea of administering testosterone therapy to members of the US Armed Forces reveals little understanding of the complexity of hormones. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has made no secret of his desire for a manlier military . He consistently argues that the US Armed Forces lowered their combat standards in order to include women. He's staged various photo ops in which he exercises and pumps iron with service members. In his speeches, Hegseth says that the Trump administration is restoring a " warrior ethos " to its legions of " war fighters ."

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On today's, we unpack OpenAI's ongoing drama, both legal and reputational, and whether these developments could further hurt the company--particularly in its fight against Anthropic. This week on, the team discusses the details behind Apple suing OpenAI over alleged stolen hardware secrets. And the company's headaches don't stop there--a group of OpenAI employees just started a super PAC to advocate for stronger AI guardrails. Plus, New York's first-in-the-nation data center moratorium draws Donald Trump's ire, DOGE stonewalls FOIA requests on its AI use at HUD, and WIRED's Emily Mullin explains the cyclosporiasis outbreak spreading across more than 30 states. DOGE Used AI for Housing Policy. The Government Won't Say How Write to us at [email protected] . You can always listen to this week's podcast through the audio player on this page, but if you want to subscribe for free to get every episode, here's how: If you're on an iPhone or iPad, open the app called Podcasts, or just tap this link . Last Friday, Apple sued the company basically alleging that OpenAI has been stealing confidential hardware secrets. And now this week, WIRED learned that some OpenAI employees are launching a super PAC to push for AI guardrails. We'll get into all those details and whether these developments could further hurt OpenAI, particularly in its fight against Anthropic. We'll dive into what that means exactly and whether this move could pave the way for other states to follow suit. And we're going to check in on the disease sweeping the nation, cyclosporiasis, which is causing turbo diarrhea across the country . So basically what happened was last Friday, Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI for allegedly stealing information like unreleased iPhone parts and prototypes, confidential designs, documents about secret projects. That accusation sucks for OpenAI. It's pretty intense, but it gets really messy because Apple is basically saying that this theft, this alleged theft, mostly happened through former employees.

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