US nuclear agency targeted in Chinese hack on Microsoft, South Park heads to Paramount+

Microsoft says Chinese “threat actors”, including state-sponsored hackers, have exploited security vulnerabilities in its SharePoint document-sharing servers, with research indicating that several hundred government agencies and organisations have been breached.  Hackers have already breached 400 agencies, businesses and other groups, the Dutch cybersecurity company Eye Security said, adding: “We expect it may continue to rise as investigations progress.” The majority of the victims are in the US, including – Bloomberg reports – the US agency charged with overseeing nuclear weapons. Guardian 

The days of porn users ticking a box to say they are 18 are meant to be over. From Friday, websites operating in the UK with pornographic content must “robustly” age-check users. Adults wanting to access explicit material should experience a significant change in how they use the internet – while websites that ignore the new laws could be fined up to £18m, or 10% of worldwide revenue. Ofcom, which estimates about 14 million people watch online pornography in the UK, says tougher age checks will make it harder for children to stumble across harmful material online. BBC 

Donald Trump has declared the United States is going to “win” the artificial intelligence race, as his administration unveiled its AI Action Plan. The new blueprint is designed to speed up the building of energy-intensive data centres – which run AI products – by loosening environmental rules, while also vastly expanding the sale of AI technologies overseas. The plan, which includes 90 recommendations, comes as America attempts to maintain its edge over China with both superpowers investing heavily in the industry to secure economic and military superiority. Sky News 

Tesla has warned of a further hit to revenue from Donald Trump’s trade war and anti-electric vehicle policies in the US president’s “big, beautiful bill”, darkening the outlook as second-quarter profits fell by more than a fifth. Trump’s signature fiscal legislation puts at risk a crucial source of profit for Tesla that had allowed the electric-vehicle maker to sell billions of dollars of regulatory credits to more polluting rivals to offset their emissions. The hit to Tesla from the president’s policies — including the loss of EV and solar power incentives — has deepened chief executive Elon Musk’s rift with Trump. FT.com

Apple has lashed out at the competition regulator over a fresh crackdown aimed at breaking the US tech giant’s grip on smartphone apps. The $3tn (£2.2tn) business has said that new measures unveiled by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will threaten the “privacy and security” of iPhone users by forcing Apple to open up its platforms and release more data to rival tech companies. Not only will this “undermine” the protection of customers, according to Apple, but it will also mean it will have to “give away our technology for free”. Telegraph 

The creators of the long-running satirical animated series South Park have struck a massive $1.5 billion deal to bring the show exclusively to Paramount+ for streaming. The five-year agreement will see all 26 previous seasons of the famously foul-mouthed cartoon move to the platform, alongside the debut of 50 new episodes, starting this week. This landmark deal follows a protracted bidding war among major streaming platforms, with Paramount+ ultimately securing the highly coveted rights. Previously, South Park was available on rival service HBO Max, and the recent contract negotiations had delayed the premiere of the show’s latest season, originally slated for July 9. Tech Digest