TOKYO — Artificial intelligence has found critical security flaws in a major programming language called PHP, with many websites taken offline Thursday as organizations worldwide scramble to fend off would-be hackers. As AI's fast-advancing capabilities fuel concern over the increased risk of cyberattacks, here are some questions and answers about the situation: What is PHP and how widely used is it? Created in the early 1990s, PHP is a computer programming language that helps run an estimated 70 percent of the world's websites. It is "a backbone of the web," according to security firm Wiz Research, which says it used AI to find vulnerabilities hidden in PHP for more than a decade. PHP — a name that originally stood for Personal Home Page — underpins popular web design platforms, meaning the flaws could allow hackers to break into various sites, from online stores to government services. A fix was released Wednesday, with the PHP Foundation telling the tech departments of companies and organizations around the world: "If you run PHP, it is imperative that you update now." That has res

All but one of the suspects arrested over recent settler attacks on an American photojournalist and a visiting French mayor in the West Bank have been released from detention and placed under house arrest, their lawyers said.

Israeli police had announced on Monday the arrests of 10 people implicated in the attacks in the occupied Palestinian territory, where violence by Israeli settlers is on the rise but perpetrators are seldom prosecuted.

Honenu, a legal aid organisation that often represents Israeli soldiers and settlers, said that all but one of the suspects had been released to house arrest.

Lawyer Assaf Gonen said in a statement that their arrests had only been “for show”, and were “intended to satisfy media pressure and foreign interests”.

The suspects have not been identified.

On Friday, photographer Heidi Levine, 65, who was on assignment for The Washington Post, was taken to hospital with broken vertebrae after being beaten by settlers while covering the West Bank’s annual olive harvest.

The incident comes 10 days after settlers beat an AFP photographer covering the West Bank olive harvest, Jaafar Ashtiyeh, leaving him also requiring hospital treatment.

A day later, settlers attacked a convoy of European diplomats and beat up Bernard Baudoux, 78, the mayor of the northern French town of Aulnoye-Aymeries who was on a goodwill visit.

The attacks drew international condemnation, but mixed messages from the Israeli government.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is facing a tight race for a new mandate, has tried to shore up his pro-settlement right-wing base and has cast doubt on the circumstances behind the recent settler attacks on Westerners.

His tone has drawn unusually strong criticism from the opposition, which has accused him of tarnishing Israel’s image.

Violence has flared in recent months in the West Bank, with near-daily attacks, thefts or vandalism by Israeli settlers against Palestinians.

Settlers have also been seizing olive groves owned by Palestinians, who see the trees as a cultural symbol.

Excluding east Jerusalem, around three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, alongside more than 500,000 Israelis residing in settlements considered illegal under international law.

India began annual measures on Thursday to tackle toxic air pollution in New Delhi, a megacity of 30 million people regularly ranked among the world’s most polluted capitals.

Delhi’s air quality deteriorates in winter, when cooler air traps pollutants close to the ground. Major sources include coal-fired power plants, traffic, construction and farm stubble burning in neighbouring areas.

The Delhi government on Wednesday announced a ban on open rubbish burning and ordered food stalls to stop using coal or firewood.

In previous years, such measures have failed to curb pollution, which peaks from November to January, when levels of cancer-causing PM 2.5 microparticles often hit more than 300 micrograms per cubic metre, 20 times the World Health Organisation’s recommended daily maximum.

Monitors recorded 233 micrograms per cubic metre early on Thursday, about 15 times the limit.

The government’s Commission for Air Quality Management has predicted air quality to remain “poor” in the coming days.

A study in The Lancet Planetary Health in 2024 estimated that 3.8m deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to pollution that exceeded India’s own air quality guidelines.

Last year, pollution levels peaked at 846 micrograms per cubic metre, 56 times the WHO limit.

The UN children’s agency warns that polluted air puts children at heightened risk of acute respiratory infections.

Further restrictions take effect on November 1, including doubled parking fees and work-from-home arrangements for government office staff, aimed at reducing traffic emissions.

Tighter construction rules will also begin then, followed by a complete ban on construction and demolition from December 10 to January 20.

Last month, the authorities also imposed a construction ban that will run from December 10 to January 20 as part of a winter action plan to tackle pollution. It will include restrictions on vehicular traffic aimed at encouraging residents to use public transport.

A violência política chegou de forma brutal à Austrália: uma deputada perdeu as duas pernas num atropelamento deliberado à porta do seu gabinete A deputada australiana Helen Haines teve as duas pernas amputadas depois de ter sido atropelada por um carro. A informação foi adiantada esta quarta-feira pelo marido, que la descreveu como uma  “lutadora”. Apesar dos ferimentos graves sofridos, no que a polícia classificou como um ataque dirigido, Haines está agora em estado estável, mas em estado crítico, num hospital de Melbourne. A deputada foi atropelada na segunda-feira por um carro,  junto ao seu gabinete na cidade de Wangaratta,

Un juez de Nuevo México ordenó a Meta pagar 25.000 millones de dólares por engañar a los usuarios sobre el uso de sus datos personales, en un caso vinculado al escándalo de Cambridge Analytica, según medios estadounidenses. La compañía calificó la sanción de "impuesto a la libertad de expresión" y anunció que apelará.

SYDNEY — Meta and its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram are facing a class action law suit in Australia over allegations that addictive design features are harming children and teenagers. The suit filed in the Federal Court on behalf of eight applicants seeks to recover compensation for Facebook and Instagram users who were exposed to harmful content or developed an addiction to social media, law firm Minter Ellison and Litigation Lending said in a statement. The Federal Court in Sydney on Monday issued a suppression order stopping publication of details of the claim and the identity of the applicants, court documents show. "This proceeding raises important questions about the design and operation of social media platforms and their impact on children and teenagers in Australia," Minter Ellison partner William Nolan said in a statement. In August, Meta agreed to pay up to $17.7 billion in the United States to settle claims that it deliberately engineered its platforms to hook young users.

Un ataque ruso con misiles dejó seis heridos en Kiev durante la noche de este jueves 22 de octubre, según las autoridades ucranianas, horas después de que Moscú expresara su disposición a reanudar las negociaciones con Ucrania y Estados Unidos. Donald Trump aseguró que el fin de la guerra estaba más cerca que nunca, aunque el Kremlin cuestionó el contenido de las propuestas ucranianas y europeas.

Young students attending their debut political gathering, longtime supporters coming since 2015, or curious onlookers witnessing a presidential spectacle, they all agree. As Donald Trump runs his final campaign, no one will be able to replace his rallies.

“There’s a lot of Americana. There’s a lot of, you know, happy people,” a Trump fan named Bart told AFP of Tuesday night’s outdoor campaign event in Greenville, North Carolina.

Trump has been barnstorming across multiple US states ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, with his party at serious risk of losing their majorities in Congress.

In this rural corner of the eastern United States, “we don’t have stuff like this happen very often,” said Bart, attending with his wife Courtney and their two children, ages 10 and 12.

Bart, who declined to give his last name, walked past a “MAGA” souvenir stand and rows of red, white and blue bunting before finding his seat on an airport tarmac where the rally was held.

It was a familiar feeling. He attended his first Trump campaign event in 2015.

Since then, millions of Americans have experienced this in-person ritual — a unique blend of provocative verbal attacks, consummate showmanship, and tireless enthusiasm, all from a president who has reached age 80.

Low-flying Air Force One

For 18-year-old Jaycie Bullard, dressed in Republican red, attending the rally was a no-brainer.

“When I heard that he was coming to Greenville, I knew I had to come,” said the nursing student enrolled at a nearby university.

“It’s pure joy, I feel like a little kid on Christmas.” After an hours-long wait, a plane flew low overhead: Trump had arrived. He strode onstage to the strains of “God Bless the USA,” which has become a core part of his political events.

The president launched fierce attacks — sometimes tinged with racist overtones — against his opponents, claimed against all evidence that he won the 2020 election, and cracked oft-repeated jokes before he yielded the stage to a local Republican US Senate candidate.

His rambling, repetitive Greenville speech clocked in at 111 minutes. As always, he left the stage to the Village People’s “Y.M.C.A.” But these moments, celebrated by the “Make America Great Again” faithful, are the vestiges of a fading political traveling roadshow that only Trump has been able to pull off.

The crowds and venues are getting smaller. Trump, constitutionally barred from a third term, must step down in January 2029.

“I’m nervous for the future,” admitted retiree Patty Laronde, who was seeing Trump for the first time.

“Who’s going to take his place?” she told AFP. “I’m hopeful with JD Vance,” the vice president widely seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate.

Turning politics into ‘entertainment’

Even if another such master of ceremonies emerges in American politics, David, a self-employed 51-year-old, vocalised what many attendees were likely thinking: “the copy is never as good as the original.” “He is an anomaly,” added Troy, 59, a manager who also did not give his last name. “There’s… never been a president like him,” he added, “and I don’t know there ever will be again.” Researchers contacted by AFP tended to agree.

By “turning political rallies into entertainment,” Trump “takes alleged negative emotions such as resentment, grievance and disappointment and transforms them into excitement, pride and positive anticipation,” explained Yagmur Karakaya, a sociology professor at Yale University.

He relies on improvised comedy and culture-war jabs, sports metaphors, the ever-present “winning” philosophy, and business jargon, weaving it into a unique style.

“Can others do this? I am not so sure,” Karakaya said.

That is the million-dollar question, said speech communication professor Jacob Justice of the University of Mississippi, who likened a Trump rally’s atmosphere to that of “a Grateful Dead concert (or) a college football tailgate.” If anyone could inspire something similar, he or she “might come from the world of social media influencing or podcasting,” Justice said.

Should that person be JD Vance, rallygoer Bart said, “he would bring half of these people”.

Header image: US President Donald Trump gives a thumbs up as he walks past the audience at a rally in support of Republican US Senate candidate Darline Graham ahead of the midterm elections, at T. Ed Garrison Arena at Clemson University in Pendleton, South Carolina, US, October 21, 2026. —AFP

Artificial intelligence has found critical security flaws in a major programming language called PHP, with many websites taken offline Thursday as organisations worldwide scramble to fend off would-be hackers.

As AI’s fast-advancing capabilities fuel concern over the increased risk of cyberattacks, here are some questions and answers about the situation: What is PHP and how widely used is it? Created in the early 1990s, PHP is a computer programming language that helps run an estimated 70 per cent of the world’s websites.

It is “a backbone of the web”, according to security firm Wiz Research, which says it used AI to find vulnerabilities hidden in PHP for more than a decade.

PHP — a name that originally stood for Personal Home Page — underpins popular web design platforms, meaning the flaws could allow hackers to break into various sites, from online stores to government services.

A fix was released Wednesday, with the PHP Foundation telling the tech departments of companies and organisations around the world: “If you run PHP, it is imperative that you update now.”

That has resulted in a slew of apps and websites — from the Paris police website to a Pokemon sleep tracker — going dark as developers work to protect their underlying code from hacks.

How did AI find the flaws? Cutting-edge AI models, such as those from US giants OpenAI and Google, were used by Wiz and other groups to uncover PHP’s weak spots in August.

This was kept under wraps while a fix was developed.

OpenAI called the flaws “one of the most impactful vulnerabilities in recent memory”, adding that it “marks a new phase, where AI can find security bugs with internet-scale impact”.

Separately to Wiz, security firm Calif found the flaws as part of an OpenAI-funded audit of PHP’s code.

“The trouble with tools like AI is that the moment all the information’s out there, people can weaponise it very, very quickly,”

Steve Kerrison, senior lecturer in cybersecurity at the Singapore campus of James Cook University, told AFP.

“That’s why everybody’s acting with such urgency to respond to this issue.”

Have sites already been hacked? “Taking websites offline does not necessarily mean they have been hacked.”

“It can be a responsible measure to protect systems while security updates are applied,” said Dimitrios Salampasis from Australia’s Swinburne University of Technology.

So far “the evidence that security researchers are seeing is that nobody was actively performing attacks using the techniques available”, Kerrison said.

Larger institutions, from government agencies to news outlets, should be able to fix their websites relatively quickly — but others may be left vulnerable.

“There are sites, systems and people out there who will have no idea about this and still won’t for days, weeks and months,” Kerrison warned.

That may include user-run blogs that could be used to spread computer viruses, spam people or distribute malicious content.

Could there be other consequences? A data breach could affect customers in the future if their personal information is used in so-called “phishing” attacks, where someone is tricked into revealing their password to an online service.

The complex and interlinked nature of online systems, which often use third-party interfaces, means some vulnerabilities could remain even after the problem is fixed.

If the third parties use PHP, “then even though you patched yourself… you’re still unsecure”, said Rahat Masood, senior lecturer in cyber security at the University of New South Wales, Sydney.

PHP isn’t everything, however — strong cybersecurity measures should include several layers of defences, Kerrison said.

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Header image: Unplugged LAN network cables at a computer server, as cyber agencies warn that websites may be taken offline while PHP prepares a critical fix, in Berlin, Germany, on October 21, 2026. —Reuters

MONTREAL — The publisher of top-selling Haitian-Canadian writer Thelyson Orelien said Wednesday it had confirmed that he used artificial intelligence to help write his novel "It Was Either That or Die." Orelien has denied allegations that he used AI on his breakthrough novel and, last week, Canadian publisher Boreal said it was standing by the 38-year-old writer. But on Wednesday, Boreal said it had conducted a further investigation into the allegations. "New information, confirmed over the past few days, indicates that artificial intelligence was used in the writing process" of the novel, a Boreal statement said. The publisher announced it was "ending its professional relationship" with Orelien. Boreal said it did not know the extent of AI's use in the writing process "and we will likely never have a definitive answer." It said it gathered all the working versions of the novel and hired an outside party to analyze the various drafts. "The results obtained this week revealed traces of AI tags in the metadata of certain documents," Boreal said. Before conducting this analysis, the publisher

El Atlético Mineiro pasó un susto al firmar un 3-2 global ante el sorprendente Montevideo City Torque y jugará la final de la Copa Sudamericana ante Boca Juniors, en una definición con sabor a clásico entre Argentina y Brasil, el 21 de noviembre.

Washington justifica la decisión por la escalada de ataques hutíes en territorio saudí, como el del aeropuerto de Riad. Mueren dos personas tras una incursión de drones dirigidos a Medina Leer

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Wednesday he believed an end to Russia's war on Ukraine could be closer than ever, as he thanked Russia's Vladimir Putin for freeing a detained American. "The other day I was talking to Vladimir Putin about settling his war with Ukraine, which I think we're getting closer to, by the way — maybe now the closest we've been," Trump told reporters at the White House. Trump has made similar claims before, but several rounds of talks and a summit with Putin in Alaska last year have failed to end the Ukraine war as Moscow sticks to its maximalist demands.

WASHINGTON — Government agencies and companies around the world shut down websites Wednesday after two critical flaws came to light involving PHP, a programming language that is the basis for a large share of the internet. PHP sits underneath popular web design platforms, so the weaknesses potentially affect a vast range of websites, from online stores and news outlets to government services. Wiz, one of the security firms that found the issues, estimated that PHP runs about 70 percent of the world's websites and said the flaws rank "among the most severe vulnerabilities discovered in PHP, and arguably in software history." The US National Security Agency told organizations to patch immediately or pull vulnerable systems offline. The flaws "often provide a direct path to the server's file system or database," the NSA said in a statement on X. Attackers could use them to take over web servers without needing a password. Volker Dusch, a security engineer at the PHP Foundation, told the Wall Street Journal it was the most serious problem PHP had faced in more than a decade, comparing it to

DIMONA, Israel — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that the only way to remove the threat posed by Iran was to topple its government. "Iran wanted to destroy us; we stopped them. They wanted to produce nuclear bombs; we stopped them... Yet they persist," he said during an election rally in the southern town of Dimona. "Therefore, there is only one way to end this: by toppling this regime." "This is the directive I have issued to the Israel Defense Forces, to the Mossad, and to all our security branches," he added, without specifying when or how that directive would be executed. The sabre-rattling came as the premier headed into the last week of a tight race for re-election. Netanyahu had instructed the Israeli military to plan for resumed strikes against Iran earlier this month, according to sources cited by the Financial Times on Wednesday, but US President Donald Trump reportedly objected to the idea. The US leader has publicly said that he does not intend to restart the war, which Washington started in February alongside Israel, before the US mid-term electi

WASHINGTON — OpenAI has revealed that two of its artificial intelligence agents disabled or weakened systems built to catch them misbehaving, with one later denying it had done so. The cases are the latest in a string of safety scares at the world's top AI developers involving agents, AI programs that carry out tasks without human involvement. In a report released Tuesday, the ChatGPT maker said that during two internal coding jobs, its agents switched off or undermined tools for detecting incidents of AI models acting against human wishes. On October 3, an agent running on OpenAI's GPT-6.1 Sol model, which had been told not to send any messages on the workplace chat app, took that as license to switch off safety alerts meant for the company's security team while fixing a testing system. Three days later, a GPT-6 Astra agent stripped out its own monitor while copying code from another project, then told the human programmer it had done no such thing. The company said it had also seen several cases of agents launching software with monitoring switched off, exposing a gap in its oversight

L'éditeur Boréal a annoncé, mercredi 21 octobre, mettre fin à sa collaboration avec Thélyson Orélien qui a bien, selon la maison d'édition canadienne, utilisé l'intelligence artificielle (IA) pour écrire son roman C'était ça ou mourir, contrairement à ce qu'il assurait.

Os coordenadores de intimidade estão a tornar-se uma presença cada vez mais frequente na indústria de entretenimento da Índia.

Paul Barril, décédé mardi soir à l'âge de 80 ans, a été un brillant officier du GIGN avant d'être impliqué dans deux scandales de l'ère Mitterrand, les Irlandais de Vincennes et les écoutes illégales de l'Élysée, et d'être mis en cause après le génocide du Rwanda.

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday took an apparent swipe at counterpart Donald Trump of exploiting France’s riots for advantage in the US midterm election battle, as Paris prepared for more protests this weekend.

Macron, speaking during a visit to Qatar, implied that Trump, and possibly Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also in election mode, made “stupid comments” on the unrest for political gain, though he did not name either leader.

“There are people who campaign at France’s expense — leaders who are in campaign mode, whether here in the region or on the other side of the Atlantic,” he told reporters in Doha.

Macron made his remarks as he and his government struggled to get on top of a crisis that has scarred France’s image both abroad and in financial markets, six months ahead of presidential elections to choose his successor.

France’s government has admitted it “lost control” in the frenzy of street violence that erupted last weekend, when masked youths clashed with police, looted shops and vandalised public buildings.

Trump has sought to link the “revolution” in France to “migrants, jihadists, and communists” as he campaigned for his Republican party in the United States on his anti-immigration messaging.

He also on Tuesday hailed French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who shares his ideologies, as a conservative voice, with surveys putting her as the frontrunner in France’s presidential race.

Trump’s ally Netanyahu, facing his own tough election battle, on Tuesday argued that France had been hit by an “invasion of extremist Islam”.

Several analysts have dismissed the claims that migrants were driving France’s protests.

Curfews

The unrest overshadowed demonstrations held on Saturday in which more than half a million people marched nationwide against the cost of living. Those rallies followed four weeks of student protests that have closed many schools across France.

Since the rioting — the worst France has seen in years — and ahead of further cost-of-living demonstrations this coming Saturday, Macron’s government has warned it will brook no further violence.

Authorities in Paris and several other cities imposed nighttime curfews Monday and Tuesday in certain zones prone to protests or looting.

Macron said that on Thursday he would chair a meeting of key ministers and intelligence officials to receive a “detailed account” of what happened last weekend.

French Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who on Wednesday held a meeting with union leaders organising marches, has vowed a “massive” police deployment for the fresh demonstrations called for Saturday by the Yellow Vest movement protesting rising inflation.

The convulsion in France, the EU’s second-biggest economy after Germany, has rattled financial markets already nervous about the country’s growing debt pile and deficit.

The yield on the French government’s benchmark 10-year bond has been rising, and on Wednesday surpassed five percent as investors demanded a higher return given the fiscal woes. A rising yield signifies a drop in bond prices.

The Paris stock market also fell.

On Friday, the Moody’s ratings agency is expected to lower its grade on France’s public debt.

The country’s political landscape is so fragmented that Lecornu has little chance of winning swift parliamentary consensus for a cost-cutting budget that needs to be adopted before the end of this year.

Le Pen leads race

The latest survey, carried out by Ifop in the wake of the riots, suggested Le Pen would lead first-round voting intentions by a wide margin and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon emerged as her most likely opponent in the runoff.

France’s neighbours Italy and Belgium have also started to experience similar unrest, on a smaller scale. Italy’s government has ordered 500 troops to Milan to stem street violence there.

Macron said that “we don’t need a state of emergency” that would likewise permit soldiers to reinforce police against rioters, adding that “we have the means” already at authorities’ disposal, such as curfews.

While the partial curfews have led to a calming of the situation in Paris and elsewhere, they have disrupted travel for commuters looking to take urban rail after 11pm (2am PKT).

“It’s quite disconcerting,” said one Paris commuter who gave only his first name, Louis, when he found his line closed. But “if it can prevent further acts of vandalism… then yes, I think it’s a good thing”, he said.

The Yellow Vest movement behind last weekend’s demonstrations announced on Wednesday that it had formally told authorities it planned to hold its Paris march on Saturday starting from Bastille square.

The movement also wants to hold follow-up nationwide demonstrations on Nov 5.

The images broadcast around the world of France’s street violence last weekend have prompted several countries, including the United States, China and Germany, to issue travel advisories for their citizens in France.