Ukrainian Attacks Bring Darkness To Crimea

A Ukrainian drone campaign against Crimea’s power grid has left hundreds of thousands of people in the Russia-held territory without electricity for days at a time.

The attack on energy infrastructure in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that Russia seized from Ukraine in 2014, mirrors the much larger, years-long Russian aerial assault on Ukraine’s civilian energy systems, which leaves millions of Ukrainians without light or heat each winter.

Battering Crimea’s grid, like the Ukrainian strikes against oil refineries that have created fuel shortages in Russia, was meant to raise pressure on the Kremlin to negotiate a peace deal. But Russian President Vladimir Putin has not publicly acknowledged the blackouts.

The intensive Ukrainian campaign began in June, mostly aimed at infrastructure near Russian military bases in northern Crimea, which borders Ukrainian lands occupied by Russia since its 2022 full-scale invasion. By late July, every major town and village in the north of the peninsula had suffered full blackouts.

But unpredictable, hours-long cuts are reported across the peninsula. Every municipality has been affected, even in touristy southern Crimea. Blackouts have idled water pumps, and even in less affected areas like Yalta, a southern resort city, residents say running water comes on only for three hours a day, according to the New York Times.

Paul Pushes Contempt Vote After Fauci Declines Questions

Former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during a Senate hearing, prompting Sen. Rand Paul to announce plans for a contempt of Congress vote next week, according to CNN.

The report said Fauci appeared under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee but declined to answer questions, arguing that Paul's long-running campaign to prosecute him made fair testimony impossible.

Republican senators continued questioning him on COVID-19, gain-of-function research and the virus' origins despite his repeated refusals.

Democratic lawmakers criticized the investigation as politically motivated, while President Donald Trump said before the hearing that Fauci had made "too many bad calls" during the pandemic, the report said.

Rescuers Search For Survivors After Deadly Japan Quake

Rescuers are frantically searching for survivors of a powerful earthquake that shook southern Japan, killing at least 13 people.

In Kumamoto, eight people were pulled from the remains of a shopping mall damaged by an explosion shortly after the quake. Three of those rescued later died.

Authorities said five people were in critical condition and several others were seriously injured, while hospitals treated many more victims.

In nearby Yatsushiro, five people died at a Nippon Paper factory after a chimney collapsed during the earthquake. Two others were injured in the incident, where rescue efforts continued.

The earthquake left communities across southern Japan dealing with widespread damage as emergency crews searched for survivors

Circular Financing In AI Could Magnify Losses

Barclays’ analysts find evidence of productivity gains from AI adoption unconvincing, fueling fears of a bubble, with doubts the infrastructure spend will pay off and circular investments that could magnify losses.

Shares in chip manufacturers tumbled in the US and Asia as a sell-off in artificial intelligence-related stocks deepened after reports of a $250bn
investment by Nvidia in an OpenAI data-center project. Nvidia has invested heavily in AI companies which rely on its chips, but circular deals of this type can skew incentives and magnify losses if AI fails to deliver on the promise of higher productivity and greater profits.

Highlighting the fear of competition from China, ChangXin Memory Technologies, China's biggest memory chip maker, which made its debut on the Shanghai stock exchange on July 27, soared by nearly 470%.

Laptop Battery Life Has Doubled In Just Six Years

The 2020s have witnessed a remarkable increase in the longevity of laptop batteries – with the average time between charges doubling from around 9.5 hours to 17.5 hours.

Laptop battery life has surged in recent years, with the latest models lasting hours longer than their predecessors – rather than offering more modest gains that were once the norm.

Long-running tests by CNET highlight this dramatic improvement. In 2020, the average laptop lasted 9 hours and 41 minutes on a single charge. Today, that has climbed to 17 hours and 25 minutes.

The best-performing laptops have seen an even bigger leap. Apple's MacBook Air topped CNET's 2020 tests with a battery life of 15 hours and 33 minutes, while HP's OmniBook 3 16 now leads the pack with an incredible 34 hours and 5 minutes between charges.

Battery life increases come down to several factors, such as the use of more power-efficient displays, smaller, more compact processors, RAM being moved directly onto processors, and overall smaller internals – meaning bigger batteries can be fitted.

Laptop tests are carried out by streaming a YouTube video continuously – with the screen brightness set to 50% and audio set to headphone mode – until the battery dies.