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BioWare, the video game studio behind sci-fi epic Mass Effect and fantasy saga Dragon Age, has been closed down. The Canadian developer specialising in role-playing games was founded in 1995 and found millions of fans with its complex, branching narratives. Its last two releases, however, did not meet sales expectations, and parent company Electronic Arts (EA) announced it had decided to close the studio as it cut 400 jobs across the business. In its own statement, BioWare, which was working on a new Mass Effect game, thanked players for being the most important part of the story during its 31-year history. The developer's first big taste of success came in 1998 when it released role-playing game Baldur's Gate, based on Dungeons and Dragons rules.

Image caption, Dammam is the largest city in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province Two people were killed and eight others injured in an attack on an airport in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday evening, the kingdom's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) says. Those killed at King Fahd International Airport were a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident, while the injured were Saudi, Indian, Yemeni, Bangladeshi and Nepalese nationals. The GACA did not say what type of attack occurred, but Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi movement has repeatedly targeted the kingdom's airports with drones and missiles. On Wednesday morning, two people were killed by debris from a drone that was intercepted over Eastern Province, where Dammam is located, the Saudi energy ministry said. The ministry said the drone was intercepted as it attempted to target a processing facility owned by Saudi Arabia's state oil company Aramco in the Shaybeh oil field, where a contractor's vehicle was set ablaze.

Independent voters are the decisive swing vote in the 2026 midterm elections. Their priorities include border security, energy costs and AI regulation.

Barclays is cutting its staff by around 5,000 as it introduces more artificial intelligence (AI) into its work processes. The banking group said 1,000 posts had already been closed and it expects a further reduction of 4,000 to be complete by the end of this year. The cuts amount to 5% of its global workforce with most of them among operational and functional roles. Barclays said the changes were the result of an ongoing modernisation plan, with the use of AI being the icing on the cake of its strategy. The banking group is reaching the end of a three year cost-cutting programme focused primarily on its UK retail banking arm, although the investment banking division is also affected.

Tesla is aiming to start selling Cybercabs to customers before the year ends. Lars Moravy, VP of engineering at the company, said that the automaker is "trying to get Cybercabs to customers by the end of this year, 2026," during its third quarter earnings calls. Moravy added that Tesla is already manufacturing Cybercabs at its Gigafactory in Texas, but those are meant for its internal robotaxi fleet. If the company does succeed in getting the vehicles to customers this year, it will start small. As it learns about "ownership and fleet management of autonomous vehicles in customer hands," Moravy said, Tesla will scale up Cybercab's sales.

Barclays' strong performance included a 6% rise in net interest income at its UK retail banking operations, to £2bn. Barclays' strong performance included a 6% rise in net interest income at its UK retail banking operations, to £2bn. Barclays to cut 5,000 jobs as bank's bosses hail AI productivity advances Barclays is cutting 5,000 jobs as part of wider cost-cutting plans that its bosses say are being driven by advances in AI. The job cuts will mean losing about 5% of the bank's 93,000 global staff, with executives confirming they had already cut 1,000 workers since the start of the year. The bank's chief financial officer, Anna Cross, told reporters on Thursday that the job cuts were part of plans to save more than £1.1bn in 2027.

SoftBank Group's market value halved from its peak in June. SoftBank Group's market value halved from its peak in June, as higher borrowing costs fuel investor concerns over the sustainability of its massive investments in artificial intelligence. Shares of the Tokyo-based company fell 6.9% on Thursday, taking their drop from an all-time high struck on June 2 to 50%, with earnings from U.S. megacaps failing to ease the angst. After briefly overtaking Toyota as Japan's biggest company four months ago, its market capitalization is now about ¥24.7 trillion ($157 billion), smaller than that of Hitachi and Recruit. Global concerns over AI spending had accelerated after U.S.-based cloud-computing provider CoreWeave's bonds fell to levels associated with distress, exposing financing risks across the industry. "SoftBank's vulnerability stands out as investors increasingly scrutinize the financial health of AI-related companies, given the group's highly leveraged financial structure and growing borrowing costs," said Kazuyuki Muramatsu, head of investment management at Nagomi Capital.

AI companies have told ministers they have 12 months to head off public opposition to datacentres in the UK or risk US-style protests that could threaten their construction. Successive dry summers and rising energy bills are increasing public scrutiny of plans for the huge computer warehouses that are used to train and run AI models, says a submission to the Labour government from a group including the AI infrastructure companies Nvidia, Microsoft and Cisco. Amid increasing anti-datacentre activism in the US and Europe, they are calling on ministers to create a "compact" that would show how communities can benefit from hosting datacentres, including allowing councils that host them to retain more tax revenues. The move by the Sovereign AI Leadership (SAIL) taskforce reflects rising concern among tech companies that arguments that have blocked datacentre developments in parts of the US are taking hold in Britain. Microsoft has promised to invest $30bn (£22bn) in UK AI infrastructure.

Safety Net Creator Playbook Trending Now Mashable Selects Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Getting Technical with Mashable Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Say More Versus In My Bag Mashable @Home All Series Today's will be easier for people who are fans of the New York Giants As we've shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans. Like the original, the game is all about finding the common threads between words. And just like, resets after midnight, and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier -- so we've served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle. If you just want to be told today's puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest solution. But if you'd rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.