Monday, August 17, 2026 · 12 stories
Chainalysis Government Solutions is taking the US government to court over a $94.6 million crypto investigation contract awarded to rival TRM Labs. The same agencies had previously awarded sole source crypto software deals to Chainalysis, but this time the company was left out of the contract process. Chainalysis is challenging the $94.,6 million contract.
NASA is using a modified version of the U-2 spy plane, created during the Cold War, to study wildfire-generated storms. The ER-2 aircraft, equipped with scientific instruments, is equipped to investigate pyrocumulonimbus storms' behavior and aims to improve prediction tools for these unpredictable fire-generated weather systems. These storms can include lightning, strong winds, and in some cases, fire tornadoes. Meteorologists have not been able to forecast these storms due to their unpredictable conditions. While the ER-1 plane is flying over the storm, NASA is simultaneously flying a Gulfstream 5 jet inside of the clouds. The mission aims to defeat what it calls the "fire-breathing dragon clouds" and to improve these prediction tools.
Shares were mostly higher in Asia after U.S. stocks fell from their all-time high due to a weaker than expected report on the US economy. The economy expanded at a 1.1% annual pace in Q2, despite private spending and investment staying flat and export growth slowing. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng rose 1.6% and the Shanghai Composite index rose 0.8%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.4% to 9,076.90. The Federal Reserve has no ability to address both a stagnating economy and high inflation simultaneously. Home Depot reports its latest results on Tuesday, followed by Target and Lowes on Wednesday and then Walmart on Thursday. An announcement regarding a new energy and economic development agreement with Quebec is scheduled for Monday.
Alibaba Group is set to receive over $2 billion from the sale of its game developer unit, Lingxi Games, to private equity firm Trustar Capital, according to an internal memo sent to Lingxi staff. The deal, which does not specify the value or when the transaction is expected to close, was reached after several rounds of talks. Under the agreement, Alibaba will transfer all of its Lingxi stake to Trustar. It is unclear whether Alibaba will retain any commercial ties with Lingxi after the sale. Lingxi is known for its popular game 'Three Kingdoms: Strategy Edition', a multiplayer strategy title based on China's historical era.
Hayden Panettiere, star of popular TV series Heroes and Nashville, has died at the age of 36. Panettier rose to fame as a cheerleader in the 2006 series Heroes, winning three Teen Choice Awards and a Grammy Award nominee for a children’s spoken word album. Her father, Skip, announced her death in a statement to ABC News. No cause of death has been disclosed. Panetiere had been open about her struggles with alcohol addiction and depression, including after the birth of her daughter with Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in 2014. She had previously spoken positively about her experience in Remember the Titans.
The fifth heatwave of the year has led to significant business losses in Europe, particularly in the hospitality industry. According to Federica Luni, president of APPE Padova, over 80% of hospitality businesses in the city and province of Padua reported turnover declines of around 20% during the recent heatwave. A survey of 9000 small and medium-sized firms found 28% held business interruption cover as part of their property insurance, while 17% had non-damage business interruption protection covering events such as strike action. The European market for parametric insurance is expected to reach $US7.93 billion ($A11.15 billion) by 2031, with a compound annual growth of 9.5% between 2025 and 2032. However, many companies will need to adapt their operations to withstand more frequent periods of extreme heat through measures such as cooling technologies, redesigning workplaces and stress-testing supply chains.
AstraZeneca is discontinuing a late-stage trial for volrustomig, a drug that combines volriformig with chemotherapy in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, following a recommendation from an independent data monitoring committee. The committee found that the volrcustomig combination was unlikely to meet its primary endpoints of progression-free survival or overall survival in patients without the PD-L1 protein. This decision adds to a growing number of unexpected trial failures this year, raising concerns about the company's pipeline. AstraZeneca maintains that volruroig's safety profile is consistent with existing drug profiles and no new safety signals have been identified.
V-2026-58231, a maximum-severity vulnerability affecting SAP Commerce Cloud, has been targeted by attackers just days after the release of a critical security patch. The flaw, with a CVSS score of 10.0, reportedly allows an unauthenticated attacker to achieve remote code execution (RCE) over a network. The timing of this attack is particularly concerning as it occurred just three days after SAP released security updates. The vulnerability can be exploited without authentication, without prior access, and without requiring interaction from a victim. The potential impact of this incident could include the role SAP Commerce environments can play inside large organizations, as well as linking storefronts to databases, payment services, inventory systems, customer-management platforms, APIs, identity systems, logistics infrastructure, analytics services, and internal enterprise applications. The incident was reportedly detected through honeypot telemetry and was reported with no publicly available proof-of-concept exploit being known at the time. The speed of this rapid response to security updates can accelerate attacker research and potentially enable patch publication and potentially allow for patch-diffing or reverse engineering vendor updates.
U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to reduce the cost of joint military exercises with South Korea, citing the cost and Seoul's refusal to participate in actions against Iran. The Ulchi Freedom Shield drills, which began on Monday, will include exercises to counter drones, GPS disruption and cyberattacks to reflect North Korea's evolving capabilities. About 18,000 South Korean troops will participate, a scale similar to previous years. While the U.S., South Korea and Japan say the drills are defensive in nature, North Korea routinely denounces them as rehearsals for invasion. North Korea also plans to strengthen its nuclear deterrence. This is not the first time the US has criticised the drills, with the first combined exercise taking place soon after the Korean War ended in 1953.
US actress Hayden Panettiere, known for her roles in Heroes and Nashville, has died at the age of 36. A representative for the actress confirmed her death to US network ABC News, stating that her family will remember her as an "incredible light" who brought "immeasurable love and joy" to all who knew her. No cause of death has been announced. Panettie began acting as a child and gained fame through her roles as a cheerleader in Heroes before moving on to star as country singer Juliette Barnes on the hit TV series Nashville. She also had a successful memoir about her struggles with mental health and her decision to give full custody of her daughter to her former partner, Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko.
Thousands of Indonesians are waiting for aid on the Indonesian island of Flores, where a powerful earthquake killed at least 54 people, injured dozens and damaged hundreds of homes and other buildings. The country celebrated its 81st Independence Day on Monday, with thousands of people still waiting for assistance. The quake overshadowed the celebration of Independence Day. Many residents spent their money on food and other necessities.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the United States and Iran, intended to halt hostilities and resolve a three-month conflict, is set to expire on August 17. The agreement, reached in June after high-level talks mediated by Pakistan, aimed to halt fighting, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and remove a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports. However, both sides have accused each other of violating the terms, leading to little interest in extending the agreement. The expiration of the MOU could have significant implications for regional stability and global oil markets. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that Iran is working on a separate agreement with Oman for new shipping routes in the Strait Hormuez. Meanwhile, President Trump announced plans to claim the Strait as U.
