'FT: US may have warned Kyiv not to strike third-party oil ships'

 United States Vice President JD Vance asked Ukraine not to target non-Russian tankers using a Russian port to export oil products, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Wednesday.

According to several sources, including some Ukrainian ones, Vance conveyed the message to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their phone call on July 31. Allegedly, Vance referred to oil coming from countries such as Kazakhstan to the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the shores of the Black Sea.

The alleged warning came amid concerns about global oil supply stemming from the complex situation with the Strait of Hormuz.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/US-may-have-warned-Kyiv-not-to-strike-third-party-oil-ships/66901213

AI Is Already Beating Human Doctors in Medical Tests

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems may outperform doctors at diagnosing patients. In a recent series of experiments led by researchers at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, a preview of the OpenAI large language model (LLM) known as o1 bested human physicians in multiple tests of clinical and diagnostic reasoning.

"We tested the AI model against virtually every benchmark, and it eclipsed both prior models and our physician baselines," said Harvard Medical School professor Arjun K. Manrai, one of the study's senior authors. Using case studies, the researchers had o1—an older model since usurped by o3—generate a list of possible diagnoses. It included the right diagnosis 78 percent of the time, while physicians were successful about 30 percent of the time.

In another test, o1 was given five "clinical vignettes" drawn from real cases and asked about next steps. Two physicians judged its responses. The average score for o1 was 89 percent, compared to 34 percent for human doctors given the same test.

The researchers also looked at o1's abilities to diagnose emergency room cases, where clinical data might be lacking. "Overall, o1 outperformed both [an earlier LLM] and two expert attending physicians, as assessed by two other attending physicians who both were blinded to the source of the differential diagnosis," notes the study, which was published on April 30 in Science. The LLM especially outperformed human doctors when it came to diagnosis at the initial, triage stage, identifying "the exact or very close diagnosis….in 67.1% of cases," while the two human doctors did so in only 55.3 percent and 50 percent of cases, respectively.

These results track with other recent research. AI-assisted mammograms could be better at detecting breast cancer, per a Swedish study published by The Lancet in January.

Using abdominal C.T. scans from patients who were eventually diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, an AI model developed by the Mayo Clinic detected this deadly disease an average of 475 days and up to three years earlier than clinicians did. "Attaining such early detection would substantially augment the probability of cure and improved survival," researchers led by the Mayo Clinic's Sovanlal Mukherjee noted in the medical journal Gut.

Robo-docs are not likely to take over healthcare anytime soon. And "humans should be the ultimate baseline," as Peter Brodeur, one of the authors of the Harvard study, put it in a press release. But experiments like these suggest that AI models could competently assist in a variety of diagnostic and medical management contexts, and perhaps even produce better patient outcomes—if we let them.

Nevada now bans AI systems from saying anything that "implicitly indicates" they are "capable of providing professional mental or behavioral health care" and from providing any service "that would constitute the practice of professional mental or behavioral health care." An Illinois law passed last year says AI cannot provide therapy services and therapists cannot use AI to "make independent therapeutic decisions" or "detect emotions or mental states." Several states—including Ohio, California, Minnesota, and Kentucky—are considering similar laws. (At the same time, some state bills would mandate that AI chatbots be capable of detecting and responding to mental health issues.)

Measures like these could hamper AI's potential to diagnose diseases with more accuracy than human doctors alone can.

https://reason.com/2026/08/09/ai-beats-doctors/

Dr. Oz Takes Aim at the $100 Billion Hospital Drug Scheme

 

The 340B hospital drug discount program crossed the $100 billion threshold in 2025, a stunning 23% one-year increase. It’s probably the biggest federal program that most people have never heard of.

The original idea of the program was simple. Manufacturers sell outpatient drugs cheaply to safety-net hospitals to serve low-income patients. The big nonprofit hospital systems instead constructed a sprawling scheme to buy drugs at a huge discount, bill taxpayers and insurance plans at full price, and pocket the difference.

Dr. Oz  has proposed an obvious fix: pay hospitals based on what the drugs actually cost.  The  year-one savings:  $4.55 billion for Medicare and $1.15 billion in patient out-of-pocket costs. And demand full transparency. When CMS asked hospitals what they actually pay for drugs, less than one-of-three hospitals responded.

https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/hotlines/dr-oz-takes-aim-at-the-100-billion-hospital-drug-scheme/

'Turkey condemns Colombia backing Israel on Golan Heights'

 Turkey has condemned Colombia's backing of Israeli claims of sovereignty over the Golan Heights in southwest Syria, joining Saudi Arabia in denouncing the support.

"We strongly condemn the statement made by Colombia seeking to legitimize Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights, which constitute an integral part of Syria," Turkey's foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We take this occasion to reiterate our call on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities in bringing an end to Israel's occupation in the south of Syria including the Golan Heights, as well as its attacks targeting Syria's sovereignty and stability," it added.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/Turkey-condemns-Colombia-backing-Israel-on-Golan-Heights/66900554

N. Korea's projectile may have reached Japan's EEZ

 A projectile that North Korea launched earlier may have fallen into Japan's exclusive economic zone (EEZ), local Kyodo News reported on Wednesday, citing a source.

South Korea previously dismissed Pyongyang's actions. The previous launch took place less than a week ago.

Meanwhile, South Korea said the projectile was likely a ballistic missile launched toward the East Sea.

https://breakingthenews.net/Article/N.-Korea's-projectile-may-have-reached-Japan's-EEZ/66900643

FinCEN Permanently Ends Beneficial Owner Report Requirements for Millions of SB Owners

 Will Delete Information Previously Reported by U.S. Persons

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is issuing a final rule that permanently removes the requirement for U.S. companies and U.S. persons to report beneficial ownership information to FinCEN under the Corporate Transparency Act.  The final rule is effective on its publication in the Federal Register. FinCEN today also announced that it will delete previously reported information by U.S. persons—now exempt from the reporting requirements—from the beneficial ownership information database. 

“Today’s action is a victory for common sense and American small businesses,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “President Trump promised to cut red tape, and this final rule delivers. Treasury is eliminating a burdensome reporting requirement for millions of law-abiding business owners without compromising our national security.” 

The final rule:

• adopts the exemptions set out in the interim final rule issued in March 2025, making the rollback of beneficial ownership reporting by U.S. companies permanent;
• exempts U.S. persons who have obtained FinCEN IDs from any obligation to update or correct the information they originally provided to FinCEN to obtain their FinCEN IDs;
• eliminates the requirement for foreign companies to report U.S. person “company applicants” (i.e., the individuals who helped those foreign companies register to do business in the United States);
• exempts foreign pooled investment vehicles registered in the United States from reporting the beneficial ownership information of a U.S person in control of the investment vehicle; and
• confirms that FinCEN will delete information about any individuals—company applicants, beneficial owners, or recipients of a FinCEN ID—that FinCEN reasonably believes is a U.S. person (e.g., the information is linked to a U.S. passport or U.S. driver’s license).

Under the final rule, foreign entities that are reporting companies will still be required to report beneficial ownership information for foreign individuals. 

In addition to the final rule, FinCEN has issued Frequently Asked Questions, and will be updating guidance on FinCEN.gov to reflect the final rule. 

https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0603

Mysterious Drone Threat Emerges At America's "Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier," Prompting Curfews

 One of the most strategically important US military bases outside the continental U.S., often described as an "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the central Indian Ocean, faces a mysterious drone threat, according to a new report.

TWZ cited the UK Ministry of Defense, which said it was aware of reported drone sightings over the remote US-UK military base but declined to identify the drones.

"We are aware of reported sightings of drones (UAS) over Diego Garcia," the UK Defense Ministry (MoD) told the military blog Monday morning. "We are unable to provide any details about a situation which may affect the security or operation of the joint U.K.-U.S. base on Diego Garcia."

"The U.S. and U.K. Commanding Officers on Diego Garcia consider and implement appropriate measures to ensure the security and safety of the base and the safety of the personnel on the island," MoD added.

TWZ noted that US officials "were less forthcoming" about the drone threat against Diego Garcia.

"As a matter of operational security, we do not discuss specific force protection measures or security procedures at U.S. military installations," an official from U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) told the outlet on Friday. "We remain vigilant in protecting U.S. personnel and facilities."

Last Friday, the Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page said drones were spotted near the base's fuel tank farm, and a daytime curfew had been imposed. "

"Inbox: Diego Garcia. Drones spotted near fuel farm. Base on 0700 to 1900 curfew until further notice. Note: message us if you have further information, thanks," the Facebook post read.

A post on Sunday by the Air Force amn/nco/snco page, titled "Diego Garcia Curfew Reportedly Due to Drone Threats," displayed curfew times across the base.

The incident highlights the growing drone threat launched from ships, submarines, or uncrewed surface vessels. Officials did not disclose the drone group size.

Here's the classification via Piper Sandler:  

The incident is also a reminder that the drone scare on the US East Coast in December 2024 likely began with a drone or drones launched from a shipping container aboard a cargo ship. Drone threats are emerging outside of modern battlefields, something we've been warning about. 

Also last week, a one-way attack drone was found on the tarmac at Leipzig/Halle Airport, one of Europe's most important freight hubs. 

The drone threat is only going to get worse from here as the federal government is in full race mode to secure high-value assets, abroad and domestically. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/military/mysterious-drone-threat-emerges-americas-unsinkable-aircraft-carrier-prompting-curfews