Beyond the strait: why attacks on Kharg Island could keep oil prices high

About 20 miles off the coast of Iran lies the source of the petrostate’s economic lifeblood and the latest target of US military aggression: an 8 sq mile coral island through which nine in every 10 barrels of Iranian crude passes each day.The US president’s decision to launch a weekend attack on Kharg Island, the home of Iran’s processing hub and the heart of its economy, is an unsurprising counterstrike to the Iranian regime’s ongoing chokehold on the oil market’s trade artery.But uncertainty over future oil production by one of the world’s largest producers, is also likely to cause further market volatility after weeks of historic price increases.Donald Trump ordered the US military attack on Iran’s most strategic economic asset on Saturday, exactly two weeks after the US-Israeli strikes which began the war and led to the blocking of the strait of Hormuz.The bombardment took aim at military assets on the island, and has so far spared oil facilities

AI could give us our lives back – if we don’t blow it

The other day I pulled into the parking lot of a client’s offices and in the spot next to me was a woman sitting in her car blasting music. She caught me looking and rolled down her window and said, “I’ll be inside in a minute … Just enjoying my last few moments of freedom!”Is this way we want to live? No, it’s not.Elon Musk recently predicted work will be optional. “It’ll be like playing sports or a video game or something like that,” he said. Sounds nice

Meta and Google trial: are infinite scroll and autoplay creating addicts?

It was as “easy as ABC”, claimed the lawyer prosecuting a landmark social media harm case against Meta and Google which heard closing arguments this week. The defendants were guilty, said Mark Lanier, of “addicting the brains of children”. Not true, replied the tech companies. Meta insisted providing young people with a “safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work”.Features such as autoplay videos, infinite scrolling and constantly chirruping alerts woven into the fabric of online platforms were central to the six-week trial in Los Angeles, which has been compared to the cases against tobacco companies in the 1990s

New study raises concerns about AI chatbots fueling delusional thinking

A new scientific review raises concerns about how chatbots powered by artificial intelligence may encourage delusional thinking, especially in vulnerable people.A summary of existing evidence on artificial intelligence-induced psychosis was published last week in the Lancet Psychiatry, highlighting how chatbots can encourage delusional thinking – though possibly only in people who are already vulnerable to psychotic symptoms. The authors advocate for clinical testing of AI chatbots in conjunction with trained mental health professionals.For his paper, Dr Hamilton Morrin, a psychiatrist and researcher at King’s College in London, analyzed 20 media reports on so-called “AI psychosis”, which describes current theories as to how chatbots might induce or exacerbate delusions.“Emerging evidence indicates that agential AI might validate or amplify delusional or grandiose content, particularly in users already vulnerable to psychosis, although it is not clear whether these interactions can result in the emergence of de novo psychosis in the absence of pre-existing vulnerability,” he wrote

Alex Johnston bedlam delivers one of rugby league’s most unforgettable nights | Jack Snape

Alex Johnston is adored by all in rugby league, but even so, this was extreme. On Friday night, as he and his Souths teammates celebrated the second-half try that made him the NRL’s greatest try-scorer, one of the first into the melee was a fan wearing not the cardinal red and myrtle green, but the Roosters’ tricolours.This Craig Salvatori flashback donned a 1990s cotton jersey pulled tight by desperate security, with No 8 on the back, and adorned with a faded Samsung along the belly. As more fans launched themselves over the fence, the guard in yellow flicked his hand dismissively at him, gesturing that he was not worth it and letting him go. The crack in the dam wall quickly became a flood

Cameron Young holds off Matt Fitzpatrick on final hole to win Players Championship

The PGA Tour might have lost out in the court of public opinion over whether the Players Championship could be a major. However, the level of drama as shadows lengthened on this Sawgrass Sunday set the tournament aside from most others.It came down to Cameron Young versus Matt Fitzpatrick. As Fitzpatrick agonisingly missed for par on the 72nd hole, Young had secured the biggest win of his career. He had emerged triumphant from a sporting thriller