🎮 The FBI is looking for victimized Steam users who downloaded games with hidden malware

The FBI is investigating a hacker suspected of publishing several video games laced with malware on the popular PC games store Steam. The FBI believes the threat actor primarily targeted users between the timeframe of May 2024 and January 2026.

The FBI listed the following games suspected of being developed by the same cybercriminal: BlockBlasters, Chemia, Dashverse/DashFPS, Lampy, Lunara, PirateFi и Tokenova. Multiple malicious games discovered on Steam over the past two years have distributed information-stealing malware designed to harvest credentials, cryptocurrency wallets, and other sensitive data from players' devices.

One of the most notable cases involved BlockBlasters - initially uploaded to Steam as a clean program, cryptodrainer malware was later added to the game. After downloading the game, streamer Raivo Plavnieks (RastalandTV) reported losing more than $32,000 from his cryptocurrency wallet. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT later estimated that attackers stole roughly $150,000 from 261 Steam accounts.

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🇺🇸 Tariff refunds should go to workers of companies as bonuses, Greer says

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer called on companies seeking refunds for the almost $170 billion in tariffs overturned by the Supreme Court to give any money they receive back to their workers.

“If I were these companies, and somehow they get this windfall, the most important thing and the smartest thing they should do is give it as bonuses to their workers,” Greer said.

It’s unclear if the federal government has the power to mandate such a move. 🤔 The tariff revenue is being held by the US Treasury Department and the government is working on a system to help process the wave of refund requests and issue payments electronically, saying that the work on a web-based portal that is part of that project is 70% complete.

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🇬🇧🇮🇪 UK, Ireland renew defense pact in bid to boost security ties

The UK and Ireland refreshed a 2015 memorandum on defense with a new, specific focus on maritime security, cyber defense, information sharing and joint procurement initiatives, Ireland’s defense department said. The agreement also includes “training, education and staff exchanges.”

The pact has a particular focus on protecting critical undersea infrastructure. It includes an agreement that the two countries will “coordinate more in terms of protecting subsea cables, protecting gas connectors and other connections on the water, which is critical to economic security and to jobs.”

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🧠 German scientists revive frozen brain tissue after week-long deep freeze

Brain death has always been final — until German researchers proved otherwise. Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg successfully revived mouse brain tissue after freezing it for a full week, marking the first time adult mammalian neural circuits have functioned normally after cryopreservation.

The team used an optimized vitrification process that transforms brain tissue into a glass-like state without forming ice crystals — the microscopic daggers that typically shred cellular structures during freezing. Scientists stored mouse hippocampus slices — the brain’s memory center — at temperatures between -130°C and -196°C using non-toxic cryoprotective agents.

After thawing the brain slices in warm solutions, microscopy showed that neuronal and synaptic membranes were intact, and tests for mitochondrial activity revealed no metabolic damage. Electrical recordings of neurons showed that, despite moderate deviations compared with control cells, the neurons’ responses to electrical stimuli were near normal.

Hippocampal neuronal pathways still showed the synaptic strengthening or ‘long-term potentiation’ that underlies learning and memory. However, because such slices naturally degrade, observations were limited to a few hours.

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🇷🇺🇮🇷 Russia sends 13 tons of humanitarian aid to Iran via Azerbaijan

Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry said that it has sent 13 tons of humanitarian aid to Iran via Azerbaijan after Tehran requested help due to rising civilian casualties and damage to hospitals and ambulance infrastructure. The aid delivery was carried out on the orders of President Vladimir Putin.

"Due to the destruction of numerous hospitals and emergency medical stations, as well as the large number of wounded, including women and children, the Iranian side has requested the supply of medical supplies from friendly countries, including Russia," - the ministry said.

It includes medicines, first-aid kits and other medical supplies. The aid was flown by Il-76 cargo aircraft to Azerbaijan, then transferred by truck to Iran via the Astara border.

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🇻🇪🇨🇴Venezuela and Colombia discuss security as Rodriguez calls for end to US sanctions

High-level Colombian officials met with their Venezuelan counterparts in Caracas on Friday in what acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez said were ‌productive meetings, as she called for a end to U.S. sanctions against her country. The meeting also was focused on energy cooperation, security and trade.

"And I want to take this opportunity to also send a message to the president of the US, Donald Trump, to make it ​clear that unilateral coercive measures against the Venezuelan people affect the peoples of our Latin America," said Rodriguez. "The call is for sanctions against Venezuela to be lifted."

Rodriguez has been seeking to attract investors in oil and mining as she attempts to stabilize the country. The Trump administration on Friday authorized Venezuela to sell fertilizers and other petrochemicals to US companies, further loosening sanctions.

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🇨🇳 Zhejiang, Geely deepen ties to build world-class auto cluster

China’s Zhejiang provincial government signed a new strategic cooperation agreement with automobile group Geely. The focus will be on smart manufacturing, new‑energy vehicles and connected‑car technologies.

Geely, China’s third-largest automaker by vehicle sales, is a key player in Zhejiang’s automotive ecosystem. Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. was designated as a lead company to drive integration across the automotive value chain. The expanded pact is intended to accelerate industrial upgrading and support Zhejiang’s goal of building a world‑class automotive and auto‑parts manufacturing cluster.

#BRICS

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🤖 ‘Not built right the first time’ — Musk’s xAI is starting over again, again

Elon Musk said he intends to rebuild his xAI, after a series of departures sparked uncertainty about the company’s employee turnover and trajectory. Guodong Zhang, an xAI co-founder who oversaw its image generation product, has departed the company. Haotian Liu, who worked closely with Zhang, has also left xAI.

“xAI was not built right first time around, so is being rebuilt from the foundations up,” - Musk said in a post on his X.

On Thursday, Musk hired two senior employees from Cursor, a leading AI coding startup that is currently in fundraising discussions at a US$50 billion (RM196.15 billion) valuation. Musk admitted that xAI is behind on coding.

“Many talented people over the past few years were declined an offer or even an interview at xAI. My apologies,” - Musk posted on X. “Baris and I are going through the company interview history and reaching back out to promising candidates.”

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🇺🇸 US withdraws draft rule that called for global AI chip permits

The US Commerce Department has pulled a draft regulation that would have restricted exports of AI chips to anywhere in the world without US approval. However, the Office of Management and Budget’s website changed on Friday to say that an interagency review process for the rule had concluded and that the measure had been withdrawn, without providing other details.

A Trump administration official said late Friday that the now-withdrawn rule was a draft and that any discussions regarding the proposal were preliminary. 🤔

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🇨🇳 China challenges Neuralink with world’s first commercial approval for brain implant

In a first for China, Neuracle Medical Technology (NMT) has reportedly secured approval for its plantable brain-computer interface (BCI) system. Designed to restore motor function in patients with spinal cord injuries, the technology has received regulatory approval for commercial sale.

BCIs are devices designed to directly connect a brain to a computer. NMT’s device sits on top of the brain cortex, which reduces damage risk. It works by reading signals from this part of the brain, which is known to control movement. The device then converts those signals into hand movement commands. So a patient might think something like “close hand,” and this is then interpreted and acted upon on a robotic/prosthetic “hand.”

If the technology can be scaled, it could eventually prove revolutionary for medical sciences. Apart from restoring motor function, it could also be used to help restore speech, vision, or even be used to treat debilitating diseases like epilepsy or Parkinson’s.

#BRICS

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🤖 FAA approves a massive pilot program that will let electric air taxis fly across 26 states as early as this summer

The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) greenlit a sprawling, three-year pilot program. It authorizes a handful of pioneering aerospace companies to operate their next-generation electric aircraft in real-world conditions across 26 states. Essentially, these companies will be authorized to operate commercial air taxis.

The DOT is talking about electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, commonly known as eVTOLs. This is a massive, passenger-carrying drone that takes off like a helicopter but cruises on wings like a traditional airplane. It is run on batteries, generate zero direct emissions, and promise to be dramatically quieter than conventional helicopters.

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💻 The MacBook Neo is ‘the most repairable MacBook’ in years

Apple’s new MacBook Neo isn’t just the most affordable MacBook by far — it’s also the most repairable MacBook in about 14 years, according to an in-depth teardown by how-to website iFixit.

The “big story” is the battery. While older MacBook batteries are supposedly glued into place, the Neo’s battery is held by a tray secured with 18 screws. That’s a lot of screws, but iFixit declared that “screws still beat adhesive every time.” In fact, this new arrangement — which should make it much easier to replace your MacBook battery — “sent cheers across the iFixit office.”

Other changes that reportedly make the MacBook Neo more repairable: a flat disassembly tree, the fact that Repair Assistant appears to accept replacement parts without complaint, and an easier-to-replace display and keyboard. iFixit still had enough concerns — like soldered RAM and storage — that it only gave the Neo repairability score of 6 out of 10. But it said that for a MacBook, “that’s a strong score.”

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🤖 ‘Pokémon Go’ players have been unknowingly training delivery robots

10 years on from the app’s peak, it turns out that digital creature catching may now help that piping hot pizza you ordered find you. Niantic Spatial, part of the team behind Pokémon Go, announced a partnership with Coco Robotics, a company that makes short-distance delivery robots for food and groceries.

Soon, those robot couriers will scoot around sidewalks using Niantic’s Visual Positioning System (VPS) — a navigation tool that can reportedly pinpoint location down to a few centimeters just by looking at nearby buildings and landmarks. Niantic trained that VPS model on more than 30 billion images captured by Pokémon Go users, and claims it will help robots operate in areas where GPS falls short.

All that time users spent wandering around playing Pokémon Go will now help determine how well a courier robot can deliver your take out. It’s a stark example of how crowdsourced data, seemingly collected for one purpose, can be quietly repurposed years later for something quite different. 😄

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🤝 Google wraps up $32B acquisition of cloud cybersecurity startup Wiz

Google has officially acquired the cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion in cash, a full year after the companies announced the deal. This marks Google’s biggest acquisition in its history.

“This acquisition is an investment by Google Cloud to improve cloud security and enable organizations to build fast and securely across any cloud or AI platform,” reads a statement from Google.

Wiz provides a security platform that protects major cloud environments by preventing and responding to cybersecurity threats. Together, the two companies will work on delivering a “unified security platform” to help organizations deal with threats faster.

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💊 Scientists built working hair follicles in a lab. They could cure baldness forever.

The breakthrough — made by a team of Japanese researchers partly funded by the company OrganTech, focuses on a previously-overlooked type of cell to create functional hair follicles in a laboratory setting. The technique achieved follicle growth in mice, promising a path toward eventually restoring hair in humans.

Using an organ germ method that they had developed over decades, the researchers constructed a “bioengineered hair follicle seed” layered with papilla cells, supporting cells, and stem cells at the top. After two weeks, the scientists noticed that the follicle had grown downward and created a visible hair shaft.

Can these follicles be successfully transplanted to a living organism? In the study, the authors state that once transplanted onto mice, the lab-grown follicles fully integrated into the nerve and muscle systems. For 68 days, the hair followed its natural cycle of loss and regrowth.

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🇨🇳 China's BYD to launch new premium EV in Europe that can charge in minutes

BYD will launch a premium electric vehicle in Europe next month that can charge ​in just minutes, far faster than anything on the ‌market today. BYD's Denza Z9GT model, сombined with a range of up to 800 km (497 miles), using the "flash charging" capabilities can charge ​from 10% to 70% in five minutes and from 20% to 97% in temperatures as low as minus 30 degrees Celsius in 12 minutes.

BYD will also start installing flash chargers across Europe where its sales grew almost 270% last year this summer, as there are no chargers on ​the market that ​can handle the ⁠1,500kW it takes to charge the Denza Z9GT in minutes.

#BRICS

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🇮🇳 Indian foreign minister hails talks with Iran to open Strait of Hormuz

Indian foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar has hailed direct talks with Iran as the most effective ​way to restart shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Jaishankar said he was engaged in talks with Tehran and that "talking has yielded some results."

“Certainly, from India’s perspective, it is better that we reason and we coordinate and we get a solution than we don't,” Jaishankar said. "While this is a welcome development, there ​is continuing conversation because there is continued work on that.” 🤝

Two Indian-flagged liquefied petroleum gas carriers, Shivalik and ​Nanda Devi, carrying about 92,712 metric tons of LPG, crossed the ​Strait of Hormuz on Saturday en route to India. Jaishankar told that ‌this ⁠was an example of what diplomacy could bring.

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❌ Lowell imposes moratorium on data centers, targeting state's largest facility

The Lowell City Council voted to impose a one-year moratorium on new development or expansion of data centers. During the moratorium, city officials intend to update zoning and planning regulations to better protect Lowell residents from impacts. The development stoppage includes the possibility of an additional 180-day extension after the initial year is up.

There are currently 45 data centers in Massachusetts. Lowell is currently home to the largest data center in Massachusetts, operated by the Markley Group — a 24/7, 352,000-square-foot facility.

Lowell’s moratorium mirrors growing national tensions over data center development, particularly the environmental and neighborhood impacts of the large-scale data centers needed to power the boom of AI. The concerns mainly include pollution, noise, water and electricity use.

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🤖 Elon Musk says his chipmaking 'Terafab Project' venture will launch in seven days

Elon Musk spent quite some time last fall complaining that existing foundries cannot meet his company's demand for high-performance AI processors and proposed an idea to build his own chipmaking venture. Apparently, this was not just a brag but rather an announcement of a long-term project. Now the project has gotten its launch date: March 21, 2026.

"Terafab Project launches in 7 days," Elon Musk wrote in an X post.

The Terafab Project is Tesla's plan for a massive "TeraFab" semiconductor manufacturing facility. It will combine logic chip production, memory, and advanced packaging all in one huge domestic plant to hit enormous scale — potentially 100B+ chips per year — for AI demands in FSD, Optimus robots, Dojo supercomputers, and beyond. This avoids future supply bottlenecks from external foundries.

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🇺🇸🇨🇳 US, China discuss farm goods, managed trade in 'remarkably stable' Paris talks

Top ​U.S. and Chinese economic officials held "remarkably stable" talks in Paris on Sunday that touched on potential areas ‌of agreement in agriculture, critical minerals and managed trade.

The Chinese side showed openness to potential additional purchases of U.S. agricultural goods including poultry, beef and non-soybean ​row crops, adding that China was still committed to buy 25 million metric tons of ​American soybeans for each of the next 3 years. The two sides discussed establishing formal mechanisms to manage US-China trade and investment, they said, with the two sides expected to go over the proposed “Board of Trade” and “Board of Investment” in more sessions on Monday.

The "candid and constructive" Paris talks led by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese ​Vice Premier He Lifeng will set the stage for Trump's trip to China to meet with Xi from March 31 to April 2.

#BRICS

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🧑‍⚖️ Notorious UK rights group launches legal action against Valve for distributing music in games on Steam without a license

The Performing Right Society (PRS), a rights management organization that collects royalties on behalf of musicians when their work is played publicly, has launched legal action against Valve over its use of PRS members' music on Steam without permission. Valve operates the Steam store and is responsible for the downloads and streaming delivered to customers via its platform.

"Great videogames rely on great soundtracks, and the songwriters and creators behind them deserve to have their contribution recognised and fairly valued," - PRS for Music chief commercial officer Dan Gopal said.

The PRS says that many of the games available on Steam feature music made by its members, and that by making those musical works available to the public via streaming or download. The action is related to any music, in games as well as soundtracks, that Valve hasn't separately licensed for distribution.

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