Woman loses savings to AI-powered romance scam featuring intimate video calls with deepfake ‘Dubai prince’

A Filipino woman thought she had found love with Dubai’s charismatic crown prince after weeks of flirtatious messages and intimate video calls. Instead, she became the latest victim of an increasingly sophisticated AI-powered romance scam that uses deepfake technology to impersonate Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, the heir to Dubai’s throne, according to AFP. The woman, a domestic worker identified only as Maria, said she met a scammer posing as the prince on a dating site before their conversations shifted to WhatsApp, where he flooded her with affectionate messages. “He kept on messaging me even when I was sleeping,” the victim…

‘It’s more than a hope, it’s a guarantee’: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s 10-year movie of the universe is about to ‘blow our minds,’ chief scientist Tony Tyson says

On a dark mountaintop in Chile, the world’s largest digital camera has begun filming its masterpiece.This Tuesday (June 30), scientists with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory announced that the facility’s ambitious Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) officially began. Every night for the next 10 years, the observatory’s car-size…

What to look for when venerable Saratoga kicks off its 46-day meet

You’ve done it all. Watched baseball games at Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium. Witnessed the spectacular Northern Lights. Sat in celebrity row at Madison Square Garden. Camped at the Grand Canyon. Wore a cheesehead at Lambeau Field. Proposed marriage at the Empire State Building antenna. Waved the checkered…

Target makes major change that will affect almost every shopper

Target is trying to roll itself out of a retail rut. The big-box chain is replacing its entire fleet of shopping carts with a beefier, easier-to-steer model as part of a multibillion-dollar turnaround push to win back frustrated customers, TheStreet reported. The new carts — about 500,000 of them — will roll…

Liberty lose to expansion Fire at the buzzer in heartbreaking loss

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Liberty let Tuesday’s game against the Fire slip away in the fourth to suffer their first loss of the season, 98-96.  The Liberty held a seven-point lead at halftime, but the Fire came out hot to start the second half.  The Liberty managed to pull ahead…

Red Wave? Republican votes surge early in California primary election

Is it a red wave, or are California voters coming down with a case of blue flu? These are questions political insiders and data nerds are trying to answer after Republicans showed surprising strength in the first wave of mail ballot returns for next month’s primary election.  GOP voters accounted…

US appeals court keeps Trump admin’s 10% global tariffs in place for now

A US appeals court on Tuesday temporarily paused a lower court ruling against the Trump administration’s 10% global tariff under Section 122 of the Trade Act, keeping the tariffs in place for three importers that had won a reprieve from the duties last week. The US Court of International Trade ruled against the new…

General Motors to pay out .75M after selling California driver data

Are you a California driver who’s owned a General Motors vehicle — Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, Cadillac — in the last few years? Did you know your private driving habits might have been sold without your knowledge? Owing to this breach of privacy, California just hit General Motors with a record…

Cindy Burbank — who plans to drop out of general election — defeats alleged GOP ‘plant’ in bizarre Nebraska Democratic Senate primary 

Pharmacy technician Cindy Burbank emerged victorious Tuesday in an unusual Nebraska Democratic Senate primary where the top two candidates accused each other of political trickery.  Burbank defeated pastor William Forbes by a 90%- 9% margin — but she won’t take on incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.) in the general election,…

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