Indonesia Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto defended a new peace proposal for Ukraine that would leave Russian occupying forces

A teenager has been found responsible for a hacking spree in which victims’ savings were stolen and major companies, including the maker of the best-selling Grand Theft Auto video games, were blackmailed. Arion Kurtaj, 18, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, were described by the prosecution as the “key players” in the LapsusS hacking group. Psychiatrists had assessed Kurtaj as unfit to stand trial so the role of the jury in his case was to decide whether he had committed the acts alleged against him. On Wednesday, following a two-month trial at London’s Southwark Crown Court plus nine hours and 19 minutes of deliberations, a jury unanimously found Kurtaj had carried out 12 offences in his spree of innovative hacks. These offences included six counts of carrying out an unauthorised act to impair the operation of a computer, three counts of blackmail, two fraud offences, and of failing to comply with a section 49 notice to disclose a key when he did not give up the password to his mobile phone when asked to by police. He tried to blackmail Rockstar Games by threatening to “leak the stolen source code for the Grand Theft Auto sequel onto internet forums”, the indictment stated. Kurtaj and the youth were also accused of hacking software company Nvidia in February 2022 before threatening to “release Nvidia Corporation’s intellectual property on to the web” if it did not pay them. The 17 year-old showed no emotion as he was found guilty of one count of fraud, a charge of blackmail and also of having carried out an unauthorised act to impair the operation of a computer. His mother wept uncontrollably after the verdicts were read out. Keep in mind Arion Kurtaj's psychological make-up, and in particular his psychological condition, his education or lack thereof - could he be the highly intelligent, competent genius that the prosecution set out at the beginning? Arion Kurtaj's defence counsel David Miller Prosecutors alleged Kurtaj and the 17-year-old, aided by unknown associates, hacked the servers and data files of broadband provider BT and mobile operator EE before demanding a four million US dollar ransom on August 1 2021. But the 17-year-old was found not guilty of a charge of have carried out an unauthorised act to impair the operation of a computer and a further charge of blackmail in relation to BT. He previously pleaded guilty to one offence under the Computer Misuse Act and one count of fraud. Neither defendant gave evidence during the jury trial. Sentencing dates at the same court have yet to be fixed for either defendant. This has been a complex and sensitive investigation involving a multi-agency response and there have been a number of challenges throughout the police investigation and judicial process Detective Superintendent Richard Waight A case management hearing has been set for Kurtaj on September 21, while it is hoped that a sentencing date may be fixed for the 17 year-old on November 9. During the trial, the court was told that Kurtaj had been living in care since the age of 14 and had been housed for a period in a Travelodge “for his own protection”. Kurtaj’s defence counsel David Miller described the youngster as “the most vulnerable of adolescents” who was now pitted against huge companies and corporations worth billions, who had unlimited funds and unlimited resources including the FBI, National Crime Agency, Interpol and City of London Police. During closing speeches, he told the jury: “Keep in mind Arion Kurtaj’s psychological make-up, and in particular his psychological condition, his education or lack thereof – could he be the highly intelligent, competent genius that the prosecution set out at the beginning?” After the verdicts, Detective Superintendent Richard Waight, of the City of London Police, said: “This has been a complex and sensitive investigation involving a multi-agency response and there have been a number of challenges throughout the police investigation and judicial process. “We thank the judge and jury for being patient throughout the trial, during deliberations and for the subsequent verdicts.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Social media firms should reimburse online purchase scam victims – Barclays Hozier would consider striking over AI threat to music industry Snapchat experiences ‘temporary outage’ as My AI chatbot posts own Story

William Keith Speer was first convicted at 16 and later put on death row after he killed a fellow inmate, Gary Dickerson

Technology giants are drawing protests as they aggressively try to shape a new US trade deal with Australia,

Thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled Tuesday following a round of severe storms that hammered the eastern United Sates.

New York Republican Rep. George Santos on Tuesday said he was not in talks with the Justice Department to strike a plea deal after he was indicted on 13 federal fraud and money laundering charges in May.

Shares in Asia are poised to drop as investor concern that monetary policy makers may not be done

Nearly all the world’s nations finalized the creation of a fund to help compensate countries struggling to cope with loss and damage caused by climate change, seen as a major first-day breakthrough at this year’s U.N. climate conference as early cash started going into it

“Rap City.”

Republican Senator Ron Johnson amplified a number of Covid-19 conspiracy theories in a Fox Business Network segment bloated with false claims about the disease amid a growing number of hospitalisations and infections. While public health officials are urging Americans to stay up to date with vaccinations, the Wisconsin senator and Fox personality Maria Bartiromo falsely refuted vaccine efficacy and safety while wrongly stating that ivermectin is an approved treatment. The senator also revived baseless conspiracy theories circulated by anti-vaccine influencers like Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has faced ongoing scrutiny for his bogus suggestion that the virus is a biological weapon used to target certain demographics and spare Jewish and Chinese people. “This was all pre-planned by an elite group of people,” Mr Johnson said on the network on 11 August. “We’re up against a very powerful group of people … We are going down a very dangerous path, but it’s a path that is being laid out and planned by an elite group of people that want to take total control over our lives, and that’s what they’re doing bit by bit.” Mr Johnson and Ms Bartiromo also falsely claimed that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved ivermectin to treat Covid-19. Their bogus claims follow a recent appeals court hearing in a lawsuit from three doctors who have accused the federal agency of overstepping its authority by telling people not to take the drug. A federal judge appointed by Donald Trump dismissed the lawsuit last year. FDA attorneys argued that the agency did not prohibit doctors from prescribing the drug but had issued guidance recommending against its use. Right-wing media falsely interpreted those statements to mean that the agency now is endorsing the drug. Ms Bartiromo also admitted to taking ivermectin – which still is not authorised or approved for use in preventing or treating Covid-19 – before falsely stating that the FDA says it’s “fine” to use. “It was hard to find my doctor to finally, you know, address this and prescribe ivermectin,” she said. “He did, my Covid was gone in a day when I took ivermectin. And now three years later, the FDA says, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s fine. Take ivermectin.’” The FDA has not said that. The segment aired as Covid-related hospitalisations begin to surge across the US, increasing 12.5 per cent over the last week to more than 9,000, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. EG.5, an offshoot of the omicron variant that sparked waves of new infections, has been circulating in the US since April, now accounting for more than 17 per cent of Covid infections, according to the CDC. Last month, Mr Kennedy – a prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist who is seeking an extremely long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination for president – revived an antisemitic conspiracy that blames Jewish people for the emergence of the disease. He baselessly stated during a press event that “there is an argument to be made” that the disease is “ethnically targeted”. The Independent has requested comment from Fox and a spokesperson for Mr Johnson. Read More Everything we know about EG. 5, the Covid subvariant dominating the US Data from pharmacy chain suggests Covid cases in California have nearly doubled since June RFK Jr’s ‘horrific antisemitic and xenophobic views’ detailed in explosive report Fox News promotes conspiracy theory linking Bronny James collapse to Covid vaccine

An overview of the media in Hong Kong, as well as links to broadcasters and newspapers.

China wrapping up its crackdown on tech firms and switching to supporting the industry sets the tone as