LONDON — Governments and corporations worked throughout the night on urgent security updates after the AI-assisted discovery of vulnerabilities in a programming language vital to 70% of websites globally. Many government sites appeared to be functioning normally Thursday, but outages or limited service continued while security work was under way. The FBI’s cyber division warned on Wednesday that the vulnerabilities could allow malicious actors to remotely execute code in the programming language, PHP, which powers websites and web applications. That raised the risk of sensitive data and networks being compromised, said the agency, which recommended that operators take websites offline if they can’t update them immediately. Cybersecurity experts who spoke to the Associated Press said the impact of the vulnerabilities discovered would have ripple effects for some time but said governments were following cyber best practice by taking down websites while they were patched. Limited disruptions on government websites In Britain, some “limited” government services may temporarily be of

The language that's known as the backbone of the internet is now subject to what experts describe as one of the most notable vulnerabilities in recent memory. PHP is a widely used general-purpose scripting language that is geared towards web development, and thus, it powers the vast majority of websites across the world. When the organization behind the language and the FBI’s cyber division warned on Wednesday of significant vulnerabilities in the language , government agencies, corporations and other organizations were sent into a flurry. The episode also highlights how artificial intelligence is changing the game when it comes to web security. Here's what to make of the discovery of the vulnerabilities and the fallout. The vulnerabilities opened sites to a host of potential security concerns The official website for PHP and several other organizations and agencies released security advisories Wednesday urging PHP users to patch two critical vulnerabilities or shut down their sites if they couldn’t update them immediately. The PHP Foundation, which works to provide transparency and ac

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slid more than 2 percent on Thursday as growth stocks weakened after earnings from mega-caps Tesla and Meta did little to address AI-related concerns, with a recovery in oil prices further adding to market unease. Meta slipped 5.2 percent after the social media giant unveiled a new class of non-voting shares to help fund its costly AI expansion. The decline came despite stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue and an upbeat fourth-quarter sales forecast. The market weakness marked a sharp reversal from Wednesday, when robust results from SpaceX and Super Micro sparked an AI-fueled rally. The optimism faded as investors shifted their focus from earnings strength to the enormous capital required to build AI infrastructure and their uncertain return timeline. The selloff put the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index on track to shed more than $616 billion in market value, while the Nasdaq-100 was set to erase nearly $1 trillion. The semiconductor index fell 5.6 percent to its lowest since July 29. "Semiconductors and the Nasdaq have been elevated to a huge degree by inve

Several government, school and hospital websites across Europe and beyond were taken offline on Wednesday as organizations rushed to protect themselves from two critical security flaws in PHP, a programming language that powers a large share of the internet. Cybersecurity agencies across the world warned that organizations unable to apply fixes in time should consider taking affected sites offline. PHP's developers said a set of new updates fixing two previously identified critical vulnerabilities was available. Here are some major websites and services taken offline or otherwise affected: Germany A spokesperson for the German digital ministry said on Wednesday the federal IT service provider ITZBund had taken several websites offline due to the discovery of PHP vulnerabilities. The temporary deactivation was purely preventive and no security incidents were known to have occurred, the spokesperson said. France The Interior Ministry said it had temporarily taken offline the websites of prefectures, which are local government administrative offices, while awaiting a security fix for the PHP

NEW YORK — Drops for stocks in the artificial-intelligence industry are dragging markets down worldwide on Thursday, while oil prices hit their highest levels since May on worries about the war with Iran. The S&P 500 fell 1.4 percent toward its worst day since July, while the Nasdaq composite tumbled 2.8 percent. The weakness for tech stocks was so overwhelming that it masked strength for the rest of the market, where the majority of U.S. stocks actually rose. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down only a modest 0.2 percent, or 113 points, as of 2:30 p.m. Eastern time. AI-related stocks have become shaky on worries that their boom may be under threat because of how expensive it’s become to borrow money to build data centers and buy more AI chips. Concerns also remain that their prices shot too high following a yearslong frenzy, even though companies in the industry continue to report growth. Lam Research, whose equipment and services help make semiconductors, reported gains in profit and revenue for the summer that were slightly stronger than analysts expected, for example. Usual

TEL AVIV, Israel — Seven oil tankers caught fire or were damaged in the Strait of Hormuz overnight after being hit by Iran or striking naval mines, Tehran said Thursday, a markedly high number as tensions rise over concerns about a return to all-out war. With days before a close election in Israel in which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could lose power, and before next month’s U.S. midterm election in which war-linked high prices have sparked voter anger, there are concerns that U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran could resume. “Netanyahu wants to attack Iran, that’s not even a question,” Danny Citrinowicz, a researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies and a former Iran specialist in Israel’s military and intelligence services, told The Associated Press. He accused Israel of rushing into another round with Iran without revamping its strategy. A clear Netanyahu victory in the Oct. 27 election means an attack is almost guaranteed, he said. Main opposition candidates are likely to focus on domestic issues first, but Citrinowicz said he believed the region is on

The world’s coral reef ecosystems almost all face a high risk of collapse in the next 50 years, mostly due to warming oceans and heat waves, according to a global assessment released Thursday. It's the latest dose of bad news for coral reefs, which are critical sources for seafood and tourism and often serve as buffers from coastal erosion and storms. Sometimes dubbed “rainforests of the sea,” they have some of the world’s richest biodiversity. They support a quarter of marine species as well as coastal communities and businesses. Some 96 percent of shallow-water reef systems are already critically endangered and could disappear by 2075, the International Union for Conservation of Nature announced on the sidelines of a U.N. biodiversity conference in Albania. Most of the world’s famous reef systems — including the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the Coral Triangle in the Western Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and the Red Sea coral reefs — are all critically endangered, the highest level of threat. “The risk of coral reef collapse i

TOKYO — Japanese author Ryu Murakami, whose edgy works heavily featured sex and violence and were translated globally, has died, his publisher said Friday. He was 74. "We are deeply and unbearably saddened to learn of the premature death of Ryu Murakami, who spent his career continuously releasing shocking works meant for a younger audience," publisher Gentosha said in a statement Friday. Among the writer's best-known works is his debut "Almost Transparent Blue", which depicted the depravity of youths steeped in drugs and sex and won him one of Japan's most prestigious literary awards in 1976. His 1980 novel, "Coin Locker Babies", featured children abandoned in baggage lockers and their subsequent survival, while the 1997 "In The Miso Soup" portrayed a tourist's plunge into Tokyo's red-light district. "We pray for the peace of Murakami, who raced his way through life as the frontrunner of an era," Gentosha said.

Virginia Tech is accelerating the closure of a joint undergraduate program with China's Xidian University, bringing forward the end of a partnership that it had previously planned to keep running until 2029, according to a university spokesperson and a copy of an official letter reviewed by the South China Morning Post. This decision comes as the Pentagon's push to tighten oversight of US universities' research ties with China has led to more than 80 termination-related actions across 30 American colleges, with some schools scaling back academic partnerships with Chinese institutions. Margaret Ashburn, Virginia Tech's associate director of media relations and deputy spokesperson, shared a copy of the school's letter to the Pentagon and told SCMP that the university had recently decided to accelerate the closure of the joint program with Xidian University. "The program noted in the letter will officially terminate after the current academic year," she said. In the letter, the school said it had previously decided in 2025 to wind down the program and stopped admitting new students, but enr

US bans BYD from air base in Japan over security concern, news report says The US armed forces have banned Chinese carmaker BYD's EVs from an air base in Japan due to security concerns, South Korea's Yonhap news reported on Friday, after Washington put the company on a list of enterprises it believes are aiding China's military. The following are details of the measure. * The concern stems from the use of cameras and sensors mounted on the vehicles that the US believes could collect and leak sensitive security related information from the base, Yonhap said, citing US military officials stationed in Japan. * US military officials in Japan could not immediately be reached for confirmation. BYD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. * The Kadena Air Base in Okinawa will turn around BYD cars starting on Monday, Yonhap said. Vehicles used by base personnel, contractors, commercial entities and taxis will be affected without exception, Yonhap said. * In June, the US added BYD along with e-commerce company Alibaba, internet company Baidu and automaker NIO to a list of companies it