The Winter Olympics Are Here. Is the Sports Betting World Ready? For the 2026 Winter Games, sportsbooks and betting platforms are watching for illicit activity while testing new ways to get people to bet. For all their prestige and gravitas, the Olympic Games have lately proven to be a hotbed for scandals. From a famous judging controversy in 2002 to bid bribery probes and even the resignation of a top Olympic official who was filmed offering to sell tickets for the 2012 London games on the black market, the modern Games have always felt vulnerable to bad actors.

A new report warns that the number of US investors in powerful commercial spyware rose sharply in 2024 and names new countries linked to the dangerous technology. The United States has emerged as the largest investor in commercial spyware --a global industry that has enabled the covert surveillance of journalists, human rights defenders, politicians, diplomats, and others, posing grave threats to human rights and national security . In 2024, 20 new US-based spyware investors were identified, bringing the total number of American backers of this technology to 31. This growth has largely outpaced other major investing countries such as Israel, Italy, and the United Kingdom, according to a new report published today by the Atlantic Council. The study surveyed 561 entities across 46 countries between 1992 and 2024, identifying 34 new investors.

U.S. government spending on artificial intelligence has exploded in the past year, driven by increased military investments, according to a report by the Brookings Institution, a think tank based in Washington D.C. The report found that the potential value of AI-related federal contracts increased by almost 1,200%, from 355 million in the period leading up to August 2022, to 4.6 billion in the period leading up to August 2023. This increase was almost entirely driven by the Department of Defense (DoD). The total amount committed by the DoD to AI-related contracts increased from 190 million in the period leading up to August 2022 to 557 million in the period leading up to August 2023. The total that the DoD might spend on AI-related contracts if each contract were extended to its fullest terms grew even faster, from 269 million in the period leading up to August 2022 to 4.3 billion in the period leading up to August 2023.