Online hacks to offline heists: crypto leaders on edge amid increasing attacks

Industry figures are seeing beyond the ‘illusion of invisibility’ after series of investor kidnappingsCryptocurrency traders such as Mohammed Arsalan are prepared to watch their online assets expand and explode if they miss the right moment, making or breaking their fortunes in just minutes. All in a day’s work on the internet. Offline, though, they have found themselves less equipped for the consequences of affluence. A string of kidnappings has plagued the industry over the past year and left traders across the globe paranoid, fearful and keen to invest in physical security measures.Arsalan grew up working class in Karachi, Pakistan

Jeff in Venice: seven takeaways from the Bezos-Sánchez wedding

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sánchez held their wedding ceremony in Venice’s Grand canal on Friday, the centrepiece of a three-day gala that drew dozens of stars but also protests by local activists. Here are seven takeaways.The couple kicked off celebrations with a foam party on their $500m (£364m) super yacht moored near the Croatian island of Unije. Coinciding with Sánchez’s son Evan Whitesell’s 19th birthday, paparazzi photos showed the couple wearing swimwear and sunhats covered in frothy suds as they partied alongside Whitesell and his friends. Foam parties can cause conjunctivitis, so the decision to hold one just days before their nuptials was somewhat surprising but maybe billionaire foam hits different

Till Jeff us do part: divisive, star-studded Bezos wedding hits full swing in Venice

The Black Death. Byron on the prowl. Rising water levels. Cruise ships the size of city blocks. Venice may have endured many tumultuous events and sinister challenges over the centuries but rarely in its long history has it had to contend with an issue quite as odd and quite as divisive as the sort-of nuptials of the world’s fourth-richest person

Google’s emissions up 51% as AI electricity demand derails efforts to go green

Google’s carbon emissions have soared by 51% since 2019 as artificial intelligence hampers the tech company’s efforts to go green.While the corporation has invested in renewable energy and carbon removal technology, it has failed to curb its scope 3 emissions, which are those further down the supply chain, and are in large part influenced by a growth in datacentre capacity required to power artificial intelligence.The company reported a 27% increase in year-on-year electricity consumption as it struggles to decarbonise as quickly as its energy needs increase.Datacentres play a crucial role in training and operating the models that underpin AI models such as Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s GPT-4, which powers the ChatGPT chatbot. The International Energy Agency estimates that datacentres’ total electricity consumption could double from 2022 levels to 1,000TWh (terawatt hours) in 2026, approximately Japan’s level of electricity demand

Ex-Doge employee ‘Big Balls’ gets new Trump administration position

Edward Coristine – the 19-year-old who quit Elon Musk’s controversial so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge) earlier this week, where he gained notoriety in part for having used the online moniker “Big Balls” – has in fact been given a new government job, this time at the Social Security Administration (SSA).Coristine, whose lack of experience and super-loyalty to Musk saw him become a flashpoint for outrage at Doge’s ruthless but haphazard efforts to slash government spending and fire thousands of workers, resigned from Doge earlier this week.However a spokesperson for the SSA, Stephen McGraw, told Wired magazine that Coristine was now working for that department.“His work will be focused on improving the functionality of the Social Security website and advancing our mission of delivering more efficient service to the American people,” McGraw told Wired.Coristine may have previously worked for the SSA, but reporting on his employment history is conflicted

Inside a plan to use AI to amplify doubts about the dangers of pollutants

An industry-backed researcher who has forged a career sowing doubt about the dangers of pollutants is attempting to use artificial intelligence (AI) to amplify his perspective.Louis Anthony “Tony” Cox Jr, a Denver-based risk analyst and former Trump adviser who once reportedly claimed there is no proof that cleaning air saves lives, is developing an AI application to scan academic research for what he sees as the false conflation of correlation with causation.Cox has described the project as an attempt to weed “propaganda” out of epidemiological research and perform “critical thinking at scale” in emails to industry researchers, which were obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests by the Energy and Policy Institute, a non-profit advocacy group, and exclusively reviewed by the Guardian.He has long leveled accusations of flimsiness at research linking exposure to chemical compounds with health dangers, including on behalf of polluting interests such as cigarette manufacturer Philip Morris USA and the American Petroleum Institute – a fossil fuel lobbying group he has even allowed to “copy edit” his findings. (Cox says the edit “amounted to suggesting a small change” and noted that he has also obtained public research funding