Comic Sans chat client that brought Comic Sans to the world is now on GitHub. The source code of Microsoft Comic Chat is open-source. The chat client turned Internet Relay Chat conversations into comic panels featuring illustrated characters, speech bubbles, and expressions. It was developed by David Kurlander in 1995 and shipped in 1996 with Internet Explorer 3.

Friday marks the halfway point of the 60-day window established under the June 17 memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran. The first half of that period has been marked by repeated Iranian attacks on commercial vessels, hundreds of strikes on Iranian military targets and retaliatory missile and drone attacks across the region. The administration is relying on military and economic pressure in an effort to bring Iran back to substantive negotiations before the window closes.

Richard Fehir, Ph.D., is a Senior Chemist/Regulatory Scientist at B&C and its consulting affiliate, The Acta Group. He has worked for both EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics and Office of Pesticide Programs.

14,000 free tickets to visit the People's Liberation Army's naval vessels during their stopover in Hong Kong were claimed within minutes of being released. Families queued online for the opportunity to step aboard the ships. The scenes stood in contrast to those of July 1997 when the PLA Hong Kong Garrison was stationed following the handover.

Southeast Regional Center has been financing manufacturing projects through the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program for the last 15 years. The program is aimed at bringing productive capital into the U.S. and creating jobs for American workers. SRC's current project is financing a Tier 1 supplier to a multinational motor company.

Jackeline Mendoza Díaz, an Indigenous leader from Peru, spoke at a webinar on the impact of illegal and poorly regulated gold mining on Indigenous lands, forests and local communities. The webinar brought together community leaders, investigators, civil society organisations, financial experts and policymakers to discuss the growing crisis of illicit gold.

There are more than 150 animal species in a precarious situation on Quebec territory due to climate change, habitat loss, pollution and the introduction of exotic species. Environmental DNA (eDNA) is being used more to inventory biodiversity more quickly and without harming animals. EDNA is used to monitor the reproduction of lake sturgeon.

Bitcoin price fell below $63,000 on Friday as a fresh wave of U.S. airstrikes on Iran and a new political dispute between Washington and Beijing pushed investors out of risk assets. Futures tied to the Nasdaq pointed to a decline of 1.6%, an echo of Thursday’s drop on Wall Street. Nikkei 225 dropped 4% and entered a correction, a fall of more than 10% from its June 25 peak, as memory-chip maker Kioxia lost 16.1%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng shed 2%, while the Shanghai Composite fell 3.1% to an 11-month low. WTI crude climbed near $79 a

Ukraine hit two tankers, a tugboat, patrol ship Svetlyak, oil terminal and Slavneft-Yanos refinery overnight. Tu-95 strategic bomber at Engels air base 800 km from the front was destroyed. Russian dry cargo ship raised its hatch cover vertically to protect the bridge, only for the drone to attack from behind. Russia restored the destroyed railway bridge over the North Crimean Canal near the village of Rozdolne.

El Salvador has eliminated trachoma as a public health problem. The World Health Organization (WHO) describes it as a "remarkable achievement". There's been a 94% decrease in the number of people at risk of the disease globally since 2002. WHO hopes to eliminate it worldwide by 2030.

Radio Tuungane's Anne Nanduhura was threatened three times in June over her reporting on the government’s attacks and blockade of South Kivu's Minembwe commune. Radio Faraja's director Zachee Nabihazire Kalume has been in hiding since late June after receiving death threats from a Wazalendo militia leader. Many journalists have fled eastern DRC, while those who remain face threats.

The Environmental Protection Minister signed a declaration changing the legal classification of crocodiles to "cared-for wild animals". The reclassification would allow government agencies to keep crocodiles at their facilities under specified conditions. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir proposed building a high-security prison surrounded by waterways containing crocodiles this year.

The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is the third-largest ever recorded. It is likely to reach more than 8,000 cases and 1,400 deaths by mid-September. The CDC's worst-case scenario projects more than 20,000 Ebola cases by August.

A new wave of US attacks on Iran has plunged Iranians back into deep uncertainty and anxiety after a period of relative calm. Iranians contacted by Reuters via an encrypted messaging app say economic problems are mounting and they are consumed by worries over what will happen next. US forces hit Iran for the sixth consecutive night on Thursday with a wave of airstrikes on bridges. The strikes killed seven people.

For years, the U.S.-led international campaign to isolate North Korea depended on a united front between the United States, China, and Russia. Now, North Korea has been gifted perhaps its greatest strategic asset: a fractured world in which great-power rivalry has eroded the political foundations that once made these sanctions effective. Sanctions aren't entirely dead, but relying on economic isolation alone to compel North Korea’s denuclearization is no longer a viable strategy in an era of intense geopolitical rivalry.

The June 26 framework agreement between the United States, Israel, and Lebanon gives the latest U.S.-brokered talks in Rome a new appearance of momentum. It transfers responsibility for ending the war between Israel and Hezbollah to another actor. Hezbollah has refused to disarm, so the Lebanese government is supposed to do it.

Colombian president Carlos E. Restrepo came to power in 1912 as a candidate of the so-called Republican Union. In 1912, the Minister of Public Works asked the Colombian ambassador in Bolivia to send him data on the cultivation of coca in Bolivia and some seeds of the best Bolivian qualities. In 1932, the ambassador sent a study on coca and a drum of it to the minister.

Trump Media & Technology Group plans to sell traders and investors early access to Trump’s posts on Truth Social. The company is going to profit by giving a few people a sneak preview of Trump's market-manipulation efforts. Trump has manipulated the stock market multiple times now.

Rising home prices and stubbornly high mortgage rates are pushing the dream of homeownership out of many Americans’ reach. Home insurance premiums are expected to rise for the fifth consecutive year. In tornado-swept states such as Nebraska and Oklahoma, home insurance takes up nearly a fifth of monthly housing costs, accounting for a bigger share than mortgage payments and property taxes.

The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) wants to build a prototype satellite for beaming electrical power within the next several years. Industry has until July 22 to respond to the call for proposals. DIU is planning to hold Phase 2 pitches on Aug. 3. The prototypes are intended to be operational by fiscal 2030.

The Strait of Hormuz has restricted the global fertilizer trade due to the Iran war. Potash production is concentrated in four countries: Canada, Russia, Belarus, and China. The United States has an estimated 7 billion tons of potash resources in New Mexico and Utah, but these resources are expensive to develop. The U.S. mines produce only about 8 percent of the 5.9 million metric tons of annual US consumption. The remaining demand is met through imports.

Watch Dogs 2 is an open-world video game that follows a hacktivist collective called Dedsec as they take on surveillance tech and discriminatory AI systems. The game's missions often felt like they were ripped from the pages of EFF's Deeplinks blog. Dave will be speaking on a panel at San Diego Comic-Con about how the game predicted tech issues we're facing today.

Hezbollah denies reports that it is operating inside Syrian territory. Syria's Interior Ministry says its security forces intercepted an attempt to smuggle a large shipment of weapons across the Syrian-Iraqi border. The shipment included long-range missiles, anti-tank guided missiles, and drones.

SpaceX's IPO marks the moment the space dream became a mainstream capital markets story. Most of the more than 10,000 satellites in space currently operate in low Earth orbit (LEO), 500 to 700 km above the Earth. If orbital data centers are to become viable, we will need to operate satellites even lower in VLEO, 200 to 300 km above Earth. NewOrbit has developed a unique electric propulsion that makes it possible for VLEo to operate not just for a few weeks or months, but for longer.

Matt Emmi, founder of OneButton, believes the global development market is seeing a shift in focus from aesthetics to health-oriented features in new construction. According to a report, the wellness-focused real estate market is projected to approach $2 trillion in value in the coming years. Circadian lighting has emerged as one of the most visible applications of this shift in design thinking.

The FBI sent an evidence team to inspect the drained Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool for vandalism. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche met with Jeffrey Epstein survivors after Sen. Thom Tillis said he would withhold the committee vote needed to advance Blanche's nomination. The Justice Department refused to give New Mexico investigators unredacted Jeffrey Epstein records, leaving the state without the federal evidence it needs to investigate alleged abuse at Epstein’s former Zorro Ranch. The U.S. carried out a sixth consecutive day of strikes on Iran as both sides continued their fight over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump fired Seattle's new US attorney 54 minutes after 17 federal judges appointed him.

Xi Jinping has called for international co-operation in AI development. Almost 30 countries have signed up to the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. Moonshot has released a large language model with capabilities approaching those of frontier US labs such as Anthropic. The company is planning an initial public offering in 2027.

Papua New Guinea closed Taiwan's economic office in Port Moresby on July 16, 2026. PNG is a strategic gateway between Australasia and East Asia and a critical node along maritime routes carrying energy supplies toward Taiwan. PNG's liquefied natural gas sector supplies Taiwan with about 1.2 million tonnes of LNG per annum.

Foundation Future Industries is developing humanoid robots for the military. Eric Trump is an investor in the company and its chief strategy adviser. The company has government contracts worth millions of dollars and high-profile backers to spread its message. The US military has a long-standing interest in humanoids.

New York City parents give their kids an average annual allowance of $831, or about $16 a week. Google searches for “intuitive wellness” are up 2,021% globally over the past year. Young people are ditching wearables, sleep scores and Strava logs in favor of frolicking “barefoot and grounding in London Fields” and running.

Users spent a record $324 million on onchain gacha in June 2026, even though Bitcoin hit a 21-month low. People are opening packs of tokenized Pokémon cards on the onchain platform. The market for these collectibles is estimated at $9.2 billion.

A woman gave birth in the middle of the street in Cartagena. She was not treated at the Crecer Clinic. The clinic has been temporarily closed. President Dumek Turbay strongly criticizes the clinic's practices. He insists that emergency medical care for minors, older adults, people with disabilities and pregnant mothers cannot be denied or delayed.

Several health insurance companies invested in a real estate fund and lost their money. Baden-Württemberg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians receives around five billion euros every year from those with statutory health insurance to distribute to the doctors. The association is suing the Hauck Aufhäuser Lamp private bank and other financial companies in the Frankfurt regional court. According to the lawsuit, more than 96 percent of the invested funds have disappeared.

Rising oil prices and the conflict involving Iran are increasing financial pressure on Europe's airline industry. EasyJet is reportedly nearing a US-led takeover. AirBaltic is seeking short-term financing and Norway's Norse Atlantic Airways is conducting a strategic review of its business.

The boreal forests of Canada are on fire. There are 869 active fires in Canada at the moment. Most of them are burning in wilderness areas where authorities don't try to put them out. Toronto has some of the worst air quality in the world this week, and New York City has a sickly gray haze.

Flock Safety, a surveillance technology vendor, will end a pilot for its acoustic gunshot detection devices to identify human distress. EFF warned the public that Flock was rolling out a new feature called “Distress Detection” that would be deployed through their devices. This feature purported to use high-powered microphones scattered throughout a city to search for sounds of human distress, with original advertisements from the product indicating it would search for “screaming.” Flock’s devices listen for more than just gunshots.