Govts, companies take websites offline over PHP flaws

Saudi Arabia reports Filipino killed in drone attack on oil field

MANILA, Philippines – A Filipino was killed in an intercepted drone strike in Saudi Arabia, the country’s Ministry of Energy reported on Thursday. According to the Saudi authority, a drone attempting to hit a Shaybah oil field was intercepted, killing two and wounding two more. “An official source at the Ministry of Energy stated that

Why a student protest movement is challenging 12 years of Vučić rule in Serbia

After two years of student protests, Serbians vote on Sunday in elections that could bring down the ruling party.

In Israel, Gadi Eisenkot tries quiet appeal to oust Netanyahu

JERUSALEM — Gadi Eisenkot, the man who could unseat Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, almost always dresses in plain black, speaks halting English and, reflecting the military culture that shapes him, responds in interviews in bullet-point lists. For some voters, the 66-year-old Eisenkot’s lack of charisma may be one of his greatest assets. Serious and

$34M Brookline mansion could set new record, surpassing Brady-Bündchen sale

Texas woman's home sold for $20,000 over unrelated debt; eight years later, court reopens dispute

A Texas woman whose home was auctioned for $20,000 in 2018 over an unrelated debt has been allowed to continue challenging the sale. Francine Lee Lankford claims the property was her permanent home and legally protected from such a sale. On October 21, 2026, an appeals court ruled that her claim required further examination, but did not restore her ownership.

Pope Leo's doctors say tests show he needs no further treatment for lung cancer

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo’s doctors say that final tissue and molecular tests have confirmed that his lung cancer was localized and that no further treatment is needed, the Vatican said in a statement Wednesday. Pope Leo returned to the Vatican on Saturday, four days after having the lower lobe of his right lung removed. The surgery confirmed that Leo had lung adenocarcinoma , the most common type of lung cancer. The pope's personal physician, Dr. Luigi Carbone, and his surgeon, Dr. Stefano Margaritora, said in a statement that results of the tests on tissue removed during the pope's surgery confirmed the initial diagnosis and that the cancer had not spread. “A subsequent oncology assessment confirmed that no further treatment is necessary,” the doctors said.

Trump says 'closest we've been' to ending Ukraine war

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he believed an end to Russia's war on Ukraine could be closer than ever, as he thanked Russia's Vladimir Putin for freeing a detained American. "The other day I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine, which I think we're getting closer to, by the way — maybe now the closest we've been," Trump told reporters at the White House. Trump has made similar claims before, but several rounds of talks and a summit with Putin in Alaska last year have failed to end the Ukraine war as Moscow sticks to its maximalist demands.

US 8th Army chief stresses readiness for threats beyond Korean Peninsula: report

WASHINGTON — The commander of the U.S. Eighth Army in South Korea has said his troops must be prepared to respond to threats beyond the Korean Peninsula, stressing that it would be "irresponsible" to focus solely on threats facing the peninsula, according to a media report Wednesday. Lt. Gen. Joseph Hilbert made the remarks in an email interview with the South China Morning Post, underscoring the U.S. military's emphasis on strategic flexibility. Hilbert said it would be "irresponsible to focus myopically" on threats on the Korean Peninsula alone or to "suggest that we cannot do other things simply because we are in Korea," according to the report. "We view readiness as largely threat-agnostic. If we have a trained, ready force capable of executing the Army's assigned missions, we can apply that force against whatever threat is required," Hilbert was quoted as saying. "So, we train every day with our Korean allies against our principal threat, while also ensuring we remain available and ready for whatever the nation may require," he added. The remarks come amid growing attention to Wash

Nasdaq climbs over 1% as SpaceX, Super Micro improve AI sentiment

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led gains on Wednesday after quarterly results from SpaceX and Super Micro Computer improved appetite for AI-linked stocks, while Netflix slipped as its forecast failed to impress investors. Elon Musk's rocket and space technology firm rose 9.8 percent after he said on Tuesday that a merger of SpaceX and Tesla would be "a good idea". SpaceX also posted its first profit as a public company. Tesla shares were up 3.5 percent. Super Micro jumped 10.3 percent to the top of the S&P 500 after the AI server maker forecast quarterly revenue and profit margin above Wall Street estimates, signaling that AI demand remained resilient. Peers HPE and Dell rose 2.2 percent and 4.5 percent, respectively. Investors drew comfort from the reports as concerns over the profitability of the AI buildout triggered a selloff in AI-linked stocks last week, with data center operator CoreWeave at the center of the storm. Its shares were marginally down, suggesting lingering caution in the sector. "The sentiment around tech has shifted ... There's a lot of stress in the credit markets right now t

Websites go dark worldwide as AI exposes critical security flaws

WASHINGTON — Government agencies and companies around the world shut down websites Wednesday after two critical flaws came to light involving PHP, a programming language that is the basis for a large share of the internet. PHP sits underneath popular web design platforms, so the weaknesses potentially affect a vast range of websites, from online stores and news outlets to government services. Wiz, one of the security firms that found the issues, estimated that PHP runs about 70 percent of the world's websites and said the flaws rank "among the most severe vulnerabilities discovered in PHP, and arguably in software history." The US National Security Agency told organizations to patch immediately or pull vulnerable systems offline. The flaws "often provide a direct path to the server's file system or database," the NSA said in a statement on X. Attackers could use them to take over web servers without needing a password. Volker Dusch, a security engineer at the PHP Foundation, told the Wall Street Journal it was the most serious problem PHP had faced in more than a decade, comparing it to

Nvidia adds Samsung Electro-Mechanics to substrate supply chain, plans capacity expansion in S. Korea

WASHINGTON — U.S. chip giant Nvidia Corp. said Wednesday that South Korea's Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. is joining its semiconductor substrate supply chain as part of a broader initiative to expand manufacturing capacity. Samsung Electro-Mechanics, the electronic components unit of Samsung Electronics Co., will initially provide production capacity from its existing operations in South Korea, while the collaboration will also support facility upgrades and new factories in Sejong and Busan, South Korea, according to Nvidia. By 2028, production allocated to Nvidia is projected to account for a significant portion of Samsung Electro-Mechanics' total annual package substrate production capacity, the U.S. company said. The South Korean company also issued a separate press release, calling the deal a strategic business partnership to strengthen the global artificial intelligence (AI) semiconductor supply chain. Samsung Electro-Mechanics said it plans to supply Nvidia with package substrates for AI semiconductors under a multiyear agreement beginning in 2026. Separately, Nvidia and U.S.-base

What is PHP and why did it take government websites offline?

Government websites across Europe went dark on Wednesday as operators raced to patch two critical vulnerabilities in PHP, one of the most widely used programming languages on the web. The developers of PHP said on Wednesday they would release patches for two critical vulnerabilities, and EU cybersecurity officials warned organisations unable to apply the fixes to take affected websites offline. Here is what you need to know: What is PHP? PHP is a programming language that runs websites. It works behind the scenes. When a user loads a page, the server running PHP assembles the content and sends the finished page to the browser. It is free, open source and maintained by volunteers. Site owners rarely interact with it directly. PHP runs nearly 70 percent of all websites whose programming language can be identified, according to web technology tracker W3Techs. It is the engine behind WordPress, the software that powers about 40 percent of all websites such as blogs, small business pages, government portals, online shops and news sites. What are the risks of the flaws? The two vulnerabilities ar