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Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy sailors aboard a Type 052B Guangzhou-class destroyer. (Credit: Massimo Todaro / Shutterstock.com)

SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITIES

China Is Training Military AI on U.S. Models From OpenAI and Anthropic

Chinese military researchers used outputs from OpenAI and Anthropic models to build their own defense AI, a Reuters review of 80 papers and patents found. They copy a top model's reasoning through "distillation," training compact systems they can run on their own hardware.

One PLA lab reportedly shrank such a model onto drones so they can spot targets and navigate even when jammed. Others built tools for cyberwarfare and intelligence, one feeding classified code through GPT, sidestepping U.S. chip curbs. (Read More)

Japan Flight-Tests a New Long-Range Stealth Missile on Its F-2 Fighter

A Japanese F-2 fighter flew its first test carrying the new air-launched Type 25 anti-ship missile, photographed with two inert rounds under its wings at a central Japan air base. The stealthy weapon marks a leap in Tokyo's reach.

Its range reaches about 620 miles, five times the original Type 12 it evolved from, letting a jet strike ships from well beyond their defenses. Japan is developing it as part of a wider push for homegrown long-range strike weapons. (Read More)

Trump Announces a Deal for Hamas to Disarm in Gaza

President Trump announced an agreement for the "complete disarmament" of Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, part of his 20-point peace plan. A multinational Board of Peace would oversee it, with Israeli forces withdrawing in phases as the weapons come in.

Hamas said it accepted but would not give up its arms until Israel halts attacks, lets in more aid, and pulls back. Israeli officials called Hamas's full disarmament a precondition, even as Trump insisted Israel was on board. (Read More)

Your Inbox Is Spying on You. Here’s How to Stop It.

Every time you check your inbox, your behavior is logged, tracked, and sold. That “free” email account you rely on? It’s feeding the AI systems being trained to replace you. And once that data is out, there’s no getting it back.

SOFX.net gives you a clean break.
Founded by veterans, our platform offers AI-free, privacy-assured communication managed by real humans, no data harvesting, no hidden tracking, no surveillance capitalism. Just tools designed with your digital autonomy in mind.

Our mission is clear: stop digital exploitation and restore your right to a private inbox.

Because real privacy requires real people behind the screen, not algorithms.

With SOFX, your conversations stay between you and the person you’re speaking to. Not bots. Not marketers. Not machine-learning models.

Take Back Your Inbox →

QUICK UPDATES

CONFLICT UPDATES

➤ Saudi Arabia launched a push for a 43-nation maritime coalition to protect shipping through the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and the Gulf of Aden, waterways battered by Houthi and Iran-linked attacks. Fourteen countries, including Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, and Gulf states, have joined so far. (Read More)

➤ Russia hit Ukraine with a North Korean ballistic missile for the first time in nearly a year. The KN-23 destroyed a family's home near Kryvyi Rih, killing six, four still missing. It was part of an overnight barrage of missiles and drones that killed eight. (Read More)

➤ A former Navy SEAL and defense-tech executive will become the Navy's top intelligence and security official, John Cremins set to steer its spy, counterintelligence, and special-operations policy after the acting Navy secretary tapped him for the job. (Read More)

SECURITY UPDATES

➤ The Ceuta breach reported as a few thousand migrants yesterday has ballooned to about 60,000 in a day, roughly 70% of the enclave's entire population. Italy suspended Schengen open borders with Spain, while Finland and Austria backed calls for possible Schengen closures. (Read More)

➤ A Chinese hacker wired the DeepSeek AI model into an autonomous attack tool, letting it hunt and strike vulnerable servers with little human input, Palo Alto's Unit 42 found. Commanded through Telegram, the system stole data from three targets before a slip-up exposed the operation. (Read More)

➤ Russia charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism and issued an international arrest warrant. The FSB says Telegram ignored orders to remove channels used by Ukrainian intelligence to plan attacks inside Russia. (Read More)

TECHNOLOGY UPDATES

➤ Turkey's KAAN stealth fighter completed its first taxi test, a step toward its maiden flight. The KAAN is Turkey's first homegrown fifth-generation fighter, built to replace its F-16 fleet. Turkish Aerospace expects a first flight within months and delivery to the air force in 2028. (Read More)

➤ An F-35B stealth fighter crashed and caught fire at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar near San Diego. The pilot reportedly ejected safely before the jet went down short of the runway. Footage showed black smoke pouring from the wreckage. (Read More)

➤ A balloon maker is turning its high-altitude balloons into motherships that launch drones from the edge of space, far above air defenses. The stratospheric craft could carry sensors or strike drones for weeks at a fraction of a spy plane's cost. (Read More)

The Cost of Free Email Is Everything

Your “free” email is costing you more than you think. It’s not just your inbox, it’s your location, your contacts, your calendar, your identity. Big Tech scans and stores everything, turning your private life into a product for advertisers and a resource for AI.

Designed by veterans who’ve defended the nation and now defend your data, SOFX is a privacy-first email platform. Our infrastructure is built from the ground up to reject surveillance and protect your right to communicate freely with encrypted email, secure scheduling, and human-run systems that never sell or share your data.

The surveillance economy depends on your inbox staying vulnerable. You don’t have to play along.

Reclaim Your Privacy →

SPECIAL CATEGORY

➤ The Commerce Department will take minority stakes in seven chip and AI firms for $874 million. The CHIPS Act money funds chip and AI research, the government citing taxpayer returns for the stakes. It extends a contested practice begun with last year's Intel stake.

➤ Airborne laser scans peeled back the Amazon canopy to reveal hundreds of hidden earthworks, geometric ditches and mounds cut by a lost civilization of up to three million around 200 CE. The find, published in Nature, upends the image of an empty precolonial rainforest.

➤ NASA's Curiosity rover rolled into a vast field of honeycomb-shaped patterns stretching across a Martian valley,the largest such formation it has seen. The polygon cracks likely formed as ancient mud dried, hinting at a wetter past.

On this day in history: On August 1, 1907, the U.S. Army established the Aeronautical Division within the Signal Corps, marking the birth of American military aviation. This pioneering organization eventually evolved into today's U.S. Air Force, which was officially established as a separate military branch under the National Security Act of 1947.

SENTIMENT COLLECTION

Should the U.S. government take equity stakes in strategic technology companies?

Yes

Unsure

Yesterday’s Results:

Should parents be legally responsible for their children's actions until adulthood?

Yes: (73.5%)
No: (15.9%)
Unsure: (10.6%)

n=672

If you have something you'd like polled, email us at editor@sofx.com.

Every time you open your inbox, you're feeding the algorithms designed to automate, replace, and manipulate. That "free" email you’re using? It’s not free, it’s fueling a system built on your private data.

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About SOFX: We are an independent media and communications technology company reporting on the conflicts, security, and technology issues impacting your lives and businesses. SOFX was founded by former special operations & intelligence professionals, not career journalists or Big Tech / Big Media.

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