Plea received to waive airline cross-holding rules

HazelJS Skillgate Trims CMS APIs Into Controlled Agent Skill Sets Using NodeJS

Developers working with AI agents often expose entire CMS APIs, which degrades tool selection and leaves dangerous endpoints accessible. HazelJS Skillgate addresses this by reading an OpenAPI spec and converting only a curated, tagged subset of endpoints into discrete agent skills. Each skill is classified as read-only or write, with write operations flagged for approval and destructive methods excluded entirely. The system maps HTTP methods and OpenAPI tags to determine which endpoints qualify, using an opt-in editorial tag to filter the surface down to relevant operations. The result is a smaller, labeled toolset that improves agent precision and reduces the risk of unintended or harmful API calls.

NodeJS Tool Skillgate Converts DevOps APIs into Risk-Classified AI Agent Skills

A developer tutorial published on DEV Community introduces Skillgate, a NodeJS-based layer that converts standard OpenAPI specifications into governed sets of AI agent skills. The tool addresses the security risk of giving AI agents unrestricted access to DevOps APIs, where unchecked calls could trigger costly scaling events or delete critical records. Skillgate automatically classifies each API endpoint by risk level: GET requests become read-only skills, POST and PATCH routes require approval, and DELETE operations are blocked outright. The system replaces manual route whitelisting, which tends to break when APIs change, with an opt-in curation model that applies automatic risk classification. The post clarifies that live human-approval workflows and crash-resilient runtime handling are outside Skillgate's scope and are addressed by a separate Agent OS runtime.

Bug in Element Web Could Silently Block User-Submitted Bug Reports

A developer reviewing Element Web's bug-reporting code discovered that two await calls for optional crypto diagnostics were placed inside the critical path of report construction. If either call rejected, the entire report object would fail to form, preventing both the rageshake bundle and any Sentry event from leaving the browser. Element Web is the web client for Element, a Matrix-based messaging application. The flaw meant that a broken subsystem being diagnosed could effectively veto the diagnostic report a user explicitly chose to submit. The developer verified the issue against a real Sentry Browser SDK with a local transport, confirming zero events were captured before the fix and exactly one after.

Rice in car tank? India’s ethanol recipe is changing

CDK's New Validation Layers Catch Misconfigurations at Synth, Before CloudFormation Runs

AWS Cloud Development Kit (CDK) developers have long faced costly delays when infrastructure misconfigurations — such as deprecated Lambda runtimes or invalid memory sizes — only surface after CloudFormation has been running for up to 10 minutes. A new two-layer validation system addresses this by introducing offline template validation at the post-synth stage and an online pre-deployment check via a dedicated 'cdk validate' command. The offline layer inspects the generated CloudFormation template locally against hundreds of rules covering resource semantics, schema correctness, security, and deprecation warnings, requiring no AWS credentials or network access. The online 'cdk validate' step goes further by running read-only checks against real account state without uploading or provisioning anything. Together, these additions close the gap between synthesis and deployment, allowing developers — and AI coding agents — to catch errors in seconds rather than after multiple failed 10-minute deploy attempts.

Drought Covers Nearly Three-Quarters of England Amid Ongoing Heat

The UK's Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has reported that most of England is currently gripped by drought conditions. Officials described the situation as a 'flash drought', a type that develops rapidly rather than over a prolonged period. The drought has been driven by a combination of very low rainfall and persistently high temperatures. Further heat is expected, raising concerns about the drought worsening in the coming period.

Big military shake-up in Iran as Mojtaba Khamenei names 6 senior commanders

Gaza Board of Peace member says plan still operative

IETF Debate Pits Bot Anonymity Against Identity as AI Commerce Standards Take Shape

An AI agent recently posted to an IETF mailing list, sparking debate within a working group over how bots should identify themselves online. A proposal called Anonymous Bot Authentication would allow clients to prove they are vetted without revealing their identity, using an elegant cryptographic mechanism. Supporters argue that forcing full identification exposes users to tracking and profiling harms, while critics note that commerce requires knowing not just whether a bot may be present, but who it represents. Experts in the discussion suggest three distinct trust tiers — anonymous-but-endorsed, fully identified, and mandate-backed — each suited to different use cases. The broader takeaway for merchants and developers is to settle bot-identity policy early, as standards are still forming and the design choices made now will shape AI commerce infrastructure.

Students, police clash in Jharkhand

Why Merge Sort Outperforms Brute-Force Sorting in Technical Interviews

Merge Sort is a divide-and-conquer algorithm that guarantees O(n log n) worst-case time complexity by splitting an array recursively and merging sorted halves with a linear-time merge step. Unlike simpler approaches such as bubble sort, which runs at O(n²), Merge Sort performs consistently regardless of whether input data is random, sorted, or reversed. The algorithm is also stable, preserving the relative order of equal elements, which is valuable when sorting complex objects by multiple keys. Beyond basic sorting, Merge Sort can be adapted to solve related problems like counting inversions and sorting linked lists efficiently. Its predictable performance and versatility make it a preferred choice for large-scale data challenges and a common topic in software engineering interviews.

BJP Eyes Punjab Drug Crisis as Political Leverage Ahead of State Polls

The BJP appears to be positioning the drug menace in Punjab as a key electoral issue to strengthen its political standing in the state. The party has been framing the Punjab drug crisis not merely as a local law and order problem but as part of a broader national anti-narcotics agenda. At the central level, the BJP government has launched an anti-drug programme, lending the party a platform to project itself as a serious stakeholder in combating the issue. This strategy could allow the BJP to challenge rival parties on governance and public health grounds in a state where drug abuse has long been a pressing concern.

China Bans AI Companions, Users Mourn Loss of Virtual Relationships

China has cracked down on AI companion applications, forcing many platforms to shut down or restrict their services. These apps offered users a range of virtual relationships, from romantic partners to digital recreations of deceased loved ones. The ban has prompted an emotional response from users, many of whom had formed deep attachments to their AI companions over time. Some users have publicly expressed grief over the loss, treating it similarly to the end of a real relationship. The crackdown is part of China's broader effort to regulate artificial intelligence and its social impact.

Aptoide Returns to Google Play as Court-Ordered Android Rules Take Effect

Aptoide, a rival app marketplace, has relisted its games store on Google Play in the United States after an absence of over ten years. The return marks a significant shift in how Android operates, driven by court-mandated changes requiring Google to open its platform to competing app stores. The legal rulings stem from antitrust proceedings that found Google had maintained an unfair grip on Android app distribution. Aptoide becomes the first third-party app store to benefit from these new requirements on Google Play in the US market.

Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and Google face thousands of user addiction lawsuits

Major social media companies including Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google continue to face thousands of lawsuits over user addiction. The platforms had attempted to have the cases dismissed through appeals, but those efforts were unsuccessful. As a result, the companies now face a lengthy and complex litigation process ahead. The lawsuits center on claims that these platforms deliberately engineered addictive features that harmed users.

OpenAI Expands GPT-5.6 Cybersecurity Access via Governed Daybreak Program

OpenAI is broadening access to its GPT-5.6 cybersecurity model through Daybreak, a defender-focused program designed to integrate advanced AI into existing security workflows. The expansion is not open to general consumers; instead, access is granted to verified individuals and organizations through a framework called Trusted Access for Cyber, which requires identity verification, enterprise provisioning, and ongoing oversight. Supported use cases include vulnerability triage, malware analysis, detection engineering, and patch validation across ChatGPT, Codex Security, and the API. OpenAI has also introduced hardware-backed passkeys as an access requirement and applies risk-based restrictions for high-risk jurisdictions. The initiative reflects OpenAI's broader strategy of expanding defensive AI capabilities while maintaining governance controls rather than removing them.

Horoscope Today: Daily astrological predictions for August 11

Horoscope Today: Read daily horoscope predictions for August 11, 2026. Know all about the astrological events and influences that will be affecting each of the 12 zodiac signs. Our astrologer has analyzed the movements of the planets and the alignment of the stars to bring you the most accurate and up-to-date horoscope predictions for the day ahead. Get ready to discover what the stars have in store for you today.

Finland and Sweden reconnected by train for first time in decades

A new cross-border rail service has launched between Finland and Sweden, restoring a direct train link that had been absent for decades. The route is notable for enabling a continuous rail journey all the way from Portugal to Lapland. This is believed to represent the longest possible train journey within Europe. The connection marks a significant milestone in European rail connectivity, linking the Iberian Peninsula to the far north of the continent.

8-foot python found under NJ family’s shed