“Apple on Friday sued OpenAI in federal court in Northern California, alleging trade secret theft, saying that the artificial intelligence lab took the iPhone maker’s intellectual property in order to develop its own consumer hardware. ‘This much is clear, however: at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,’ the company said in a legal filing. It’s a shocking reversal for the two companies, which entered into a high-profile partnership in 2024, when ChatGPT was integrated into the iPhone’s operating system. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman visited Apple’s headquarters for the announcement. But relations between the two companies have chilled since OpenAI announced plans to enter the hardware industry last year, when it bought former Apple designer Jony Ive’s startup, called IO Products, for $6.4 billion.” (07/10/26)
“The United States launched new airstrikes against Iran early Thursday, and Tehran responded by targeting U.S.-allied Mideast countries in an exchange of fire that threatened an interim deal intended to help end the war in the Middle East. Back-and-forth attacks, including a day earlier, have repeatedly threatened the ceasefire. But Thursday’s appeared bigger all around, with sirens sounding at least three times in Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters, and missiles targeting Kuwait and Qatar. … An Iranian official accused the U.S. of launching an airstrike later Thursday targeting the area around Iran’s sole nuclear power plant, and other explosions were reported elsewhere in the country during the afternoon.” (07/10/26)
“Bitcoin’s best session of the week came out of Seoul and Tokyo. The largest cryptocurrency rose 3.5% to nearly $64,000 on Friday, recovering the ground it lost when President Trump warned that strikes on Iran could intensify. It traded as low as about $61,850 before buyers returned, and roughly $28 billion changed hands over 24 hours. Bitcoin is up 4.2% on the week, CoinDesk data shows. Ether rose 2.6% to $1,760 and is up 4% on the week. Solana added 2.6% to $78 while still carrying a 2.1% weekly loss, the only major that has not clawed back to green. XRP gained 2.2%, TRON climbed 1.2% and leads the majors at 4.7% over seven days, hyperliquid’s HYPE added 1.8% to $68, and dogecoin rose 2.6% while remaining 0.8% underwater on the week.” [editor’s note: As of 5 am Friday when I found this story, BTC was trading at $64,200 – TLK] (07/10/26)
“Ukraine’s military has intensified its attacks near Russian-annexed Crimea, following up strikes on Russia’s land corridor to the peninsula by targeting maritime supply routes as well. Ukraine’s drone force commander Robert Brovdi, also known as Magyar, says at least 25 ships have been hit and set on fire over the past four days in the Sea of Azov, the inland sea linked to the Black Sea by the Kerch Strait.” (07/09/26)
“The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits fell last week, supporting economists’ views that the labor market remained in a ‘slow-hire, slow-fire’ mode, despite a sharp slowdown in job growth in June. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits slipped 2,000 to a seasonally adjusted 215,000 for the week ended July 4, the Labor Department said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 218,000 claims for the latest week.” (07/09/26)
“China just notched a huge spaceflight milestone. The nation has recovered a rocket during an orbital launch for the first time ever, pulling off the feat during the Long March 10B’s maiden liftoff on Friday (July 10). And that recovery was unique: The rocket’s first stage nestled softly into a net-like structure carried by a ship at sea. … Until now, vertical landings of orbital-class rockets had been performed only by SpaceX, which does them on a regular basis. Indeed, Elon Musk’s company has landed orbital rockets more than 600 times to date. Such extensive reuse has allowed SpaceX to fly more cheaply and efficiently than its competitors and dominate the launch market — something that China is working hard to emulate.” (07/10/26)
“Tuareg separatists and their allies attacked a convoy of Russian mercenaries and Malian soldiers Thursday morning, as they travelled to assist cohorts holed up at a northern military camp in the town of Anefis. Al-Qaeda-linked JNIM and FLA Tuareg groups launched coordinated attacks in Mali on Saturday, just over two months after another major offensive in which they captured the strategic northern town of Kidal and killed the troubled West African country’s defence minister.” (07/09/26)
“U.S. Olympic canoeist David ‘Davey’ Hearn pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday in connection with alleged damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. … He is among at least four people facing charges in connection with the alleged tampering of the pool, which President Donald Trump began renovating this spring. The U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Jeanine Pirro, alleges Hearn was seen ‘forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner’ of the pool with both hands on June 19. Hearn’s legal team says he is innocent and calls the charges ‘outrageous.'” (07/09/26)
“Pakistan naval search and rescue teams battled rough seas on Thursday as the search for five crew members who went missing after their cargo plane crashed into the Arabian Sea entered its second day, officials said. Wreckage from the aircraft was recovered on Wednesday, with no sign of the missing crew members. The aircraft, operated by private carrier K2 Airways, reported a malfunction in its navigation system before losing radio and radar contact late Tuesday, according to the Pakistan Airports Authority. Ships and aircraft have continued to comb waters nearly 300 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of Karachi, where the plane disappeared from radar while approaching Pakistan’s largest city from Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The cause of the crash remains under investigation.” (07/09/26)
“The European Commission is proposing tough measures to reduce imports from illegal Israeli [squats] in the West Bank, as part of options presented to national capitals this week. A paper from the EU’s executive branch, marked confidential and seen by POLITICO, states that ‘strengthened enforcement may reduce imports from [squats] channelled into the EU in violation of existing rules, without requiring new EU legal instruments.’ Among the ideas being considered are an import licensing system, whereby goods from illegal [squats] would need special permission to be exported to the bloc; tariffs targeting goods originating in the [squats]; or an outright ban on imports from illegal s[squats].” (07/09/26)
