The United States urged European governments to release strategic diesel reserves immediately as higher prices increased pressure on consumers. President Donald Trump also threatened to ban US diesel exports if allies did not act. Al Jazeera and France 24 linked the supply strain to the US war on Iran. EU states planned a coordinated discussion on Friday.
Cloudflare introduced Clef and Clef-flash, open-weight multimodal models designed for decision tasks involving text, images and video. The models are based on Qwen architectures and can be downloaded from Hugging Face for local use, although The Register reported that running them requires substantial hardware and costs more than the company’s earlier Jev model.
A South African rival has offered $27 billion for Australian gold producer Northern Star, according to the Financial Times. The foreign approach confronts investors with a choice between accepting the bid and backing efforts to build a larger domestically based gold champion. The report did not indicate that shareholders had yet reached a decision.
All combined WTA 1000 tournaments will award women and men equal prize money from 2027, the Women’s Tennis Association announced. The Italian Open and other events will join tournaments already offering parity. The WTA called the change a major milestone in its equality campaign, extending equal payouts across the tour’s leading combined events.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the flydubai co-pilot accused of stabbing the captain had undergone Islamist radicalisation and intended to bring down the Israel-bound aircraft. The suspect was questioned by Saudi authorities, while the United Arab Emirates investigated a possible terror link. The reports did not establish independent evidence for the claimed motive.
Apple is reportedly developing a smart-home camera that analyses its surroundings with artificial intelligence but does not record video. Reports from The Verge, MacRumors and Hacker News say the device would instead provide text descriptions of events and form part of a broader Apple home ecosystem, though the company has not announced the product.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government is searching for a British alternative to Palantir after launching a ‘Buy British’ procurement push, the Financial Times reported. The US technology company holds contracts in health and defence, making any replacement a complex procurement decision involving sensitive data systems, operational continuity and the capacity of domestic suppliers.
The Dallas Cowboys acquired cornerback Joey Porter Jr. from the Pittsburgh Steelers in a trade. ESPN reported that the move raises questions about his fit in Dallas, a possible new contract and Pittsburgh’s next steps. CBS Sports said Porter welcomed the fresh start after feeling disrespected by the Steelers, his team since entering the league.
Eritrea and Ethiopia severed diplomatic relations as fighting intensified in the Tigray region. Ethiopia ordered 10 Eritrean diplomats to leave and said it would close its embassy in Asmara, accusing Eritrea of hostile activity. Eritrea announced reciprocal measures and blamed Ethiopia. The rupture follows years of unstable relations after their earlier rapprochement.
A US federal judge dismissed antitrust lawsuits brought by education company Chegg and Penske Media against Google’s AI-powered search features. The plaintiffs argued that AI Overviews diverted traffic from publishers, but reports said the court found they had not shown that Google improperly leveraged its search monopoly, despite acknowledging consequences for websites.