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A Florida billionaire was revealed Tuesday as the deep-pocketed buyer who shelled out a jaw-dropping $40 million for Ferrari's one-of-a-kind Luce EV, the Italian supercar that critics mercilessly roasted for looking straight-up fugly.

The buyer: Dr. Herbert Wertheim, an optometrist who founded Miami-based Brain Power, a firm that cooks up tech for the eyewear industry.

The Journal reports:

Wertheim's unique model, dubbed "Chassis 0," has an estimated worth of $1.1 million, according to Sotheby's. The car has been shipped to Italy for modifications - although Wertheim didn't know what kind - and he will take possession of it next year. But much like with the Ferrari Daytona SP3 he bought last year for $26 million at the same auction, Wertheim's bigger plan for the Luce - or the Lucy, as he calls it - is to be a fundraising workhorse for the many charities he supports.

"It will not be my personal car to go to Publix to get bananas," said Wertheim. "I don't want to break the sound barrier, but you know, it's nice when you're trying to get on the highway quickly."

If you thought Wertheim might be woke, you would be mistaken. The 87-year-old regularly hits Mar-a-Lago, the private club owned by President Donald Trump, who he considers a friend. At a charity gala in Palm Beach, Wertheim dropped another $2 million for a private White House visit with Trump. The winning bid came during the bash at Mar-a-Lago estate, raising cash for educational scholarships for kids of Palm Beach cops and firefighters.Wertheim has an an estimated net worth of $4.6 billion.

A coordinated crackdown on organized retail crime across California ended with 97 arrests and the recovery of thousands of stolen products, according to KTLA.

Over nine days in early August, California Highway Patrol investigators worked alongside more than 100 law enforcement agencies as part of the National Organized Retail Crime Blitz. The enforcement effort focused on suspected theft activity at retailers, shopping centers and other businesses throughout the state.

The KTLA report says that authorities ultimately recovered more than 8,500 items believed to have been stolen. CHP estimated the merchandise was worth roughly $1.05 million. Of the 97 people arrested during the operation, eight were taken into custody on felony charges.

The enforcement push included operations in several communities. In San Diego, authorities recovered a large quantity of stolen sneakers, while officers in Roseville, Lodi and Stockton carried out proactive operations that led to additional arrests.

CHP Commissioner Sean Duryee said retail theft can have lasting consequences for businesses and the communities they serve, and said the agency plans to continue committing resources to identifying and apprehending those involved.

The latest operation adds to several years of organized retail crime enforcement by the CHP. Since its Organized Retail Crime Task Force began operating in 2019, the agency has been involved in more than 4,700 investigations and over 5,300 arrests.

During that period, authorities have recovered more than 1.6 million stolen products with an estimated combined value exceeding $76.6 million, according to CHP.

Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is visiting Baghdad while at the same time US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss the Hormuz situation and security. Except of course the two sides aren't talking with each other.

President Trump has made clear that no talks are on, and that none are scheduled, as he's been floating a 'new' strategy to 'strangle' the Iranian economy over the long term. CNN reported Tuesday that White House officials have recently communicated that they are shifting their strategy — going from "hammer Iran ASAP" to "strangle them" over time.

As for Ghalibaf, he blasted War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Tuesday, mocking this new disengagement strategy, given the US has already failed to bring Tehran to its knees.

"Americans think squeezing Iran harder will win concessions that were never part of the agreement," Ghalibaf wrote in a post on X. "Bessent and Hegseth are way out of their league," Ghalibaf added while referring to them as the "clown crew." He stated:

Stop waiting for the clown crew to pull a rabbit out of their hat and clean up the mess you made.

After declaring a new 'offensive' military posture in response to the crisis, Iran is showing no signs of backing off the confrontation with the US in the region. On Wednesday its armed forces warned Gulf countries against hosting or assisting American forces, saying it would be tantamount to joining the war on the US side.

"We wish to warn that any assistance or facilitation provided to the aggressor U.S. military amounts to participation in the U.S. military operation," armed forces chief of staff Ali Abdollahi said.

"It seems unlikely that such a large number of military aircraft, particularly refueling aircraft could be present at regional bases without knowledge of host countries," the official continued as cited in Mehr news agency.

It's not known how many refueling tankers or else large warplanes are still positioned in the Gulf, but certainly the bulk of regional refueling aircraft operated by the US Air Force are currently concentrated at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion international airport - and has been subject of a lot of media attention.

And in another significant escalation that effectively torpedoes any remaining illusions of hoped-for cross-Gulf detente, the United Arab Emirates has announced Wednesday a complete and immediate severance of all economic ties with Tehran. The move comes on the heels of what UAE officials claim was a barrage of Iranian ballistic missiles targeted directly at Emirati territory.

Tehran had quickly denied it had fired missiles on its territory, but UAE authorities later clarified that the military observed two missiles inbound from Iran, which caused no damage or casualties - which triggered an urgent missile alert for the population on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, below are some of the latest major developments and reports related to the Iran conflict:

Iran has weighed attacking US military targets in Europe should Donald Trump escalate the war, according to people close to the regime, as Tehran considers its options to increase the stakes of the conflict. FT

Even as Iran projects resilience in the war with the United States, its leaders are worried that a threat of more economic punishment by Donald Trump could increase hardships, reignite unrest and further erode the Islamic Republic’s legitimacy. RTRS

Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz are piling up without an American military response, raising the risks of crossing the strategic waterway and frustrating some Arab allies who worry the U.S. doesn’t have a strategy to wind down the conflict. WSJ

However, shipping analytics firm Kpler has suggested that the US Navy is gaining ground in the Strait of Hormuz, and that Iran is ceding some control, amid a war of words between President Trump and Iranian leadership over who has actual 'control'.

previewing new sanctions still to be announced...

The Trump administration appears to be indicating it favors economic warfare in its approach to the conflict with Iran, touting its naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and previewing new sanctions still to be announced. https://t.co/k5g4FBcxF7

— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) August 19, 2026

"At the moment, however, the evidence is clear: The United States, patrolling the strait with its navy, is gaining ground – and Iran is losing much of its control of the critical waterway," writes CNN. "More than 80% of liquids transits through the Strait of Hormuz over the past two weeks have taken the Omani route – a UN-authorized shipping channel that Iran vehemently opposes – or have been 'dark' transits that likely took the Omani route, according to Kpler, which tracks ships using transponders and satellite data."

But there's as yet no rush for international shipping to return to the waterway, given the risk of attack and all of the serious unknowns which could result in total losses as well as threaten the safety of crew.

Almonty Industries has evolved from a junior miner into an established tungsten producer and a pure play on the China decoupling theme, the incoming defense rearmament supercycle in the West, AI infrastructure, and, of course, critical-mineral scarcity. As Western governments race to rebuild a tungsten supply chain outside China, Almonty's producing assets and the ramp-up of its Sangdong and Panasqueira mines position the miner as a potentially critical supplier to the Western world.

Let's begin with the catalyst. Beijing tightened tungsten export controls in February 2025, citing national security concerns, and has continued to subject the metal to strict controls. The restrictions have severely curbed available supply, triggering a squeeze in the physical market and driving prices above $3,125 a ton as of Wednesday morning.

Image via Cantor Fitzgerald: 

Earlier this year, an inquiry from the US Defense Logistics Agency about potential tungsten purchases unsettled an already tight market, according to industry commentary circulated by Almonty. The agency, which manages critical stockpiles of tungsten for the government, ultimately did not proceed after industry players raised alarm bells that a massive government purchase could drive prices even higher.

Tungsten supplies are certainly turning out to be a major chokepoint: much of the metal available outside China is already committed under long-term contracts, leaving very little supply for the US government to add to its national stockpile.

Meanwhile, Japan is facing a critical shortage. Shipments of Chinese APT, or ammonium paratungstate, a vital white-powder intermediate used to create tungsten products, have reportedly stopped entirely since the beginning of this year, placing immense pressure on Japanese hard-metal and tool manufacturers. Japan has since increased its imports of tungsten scrap, but the US Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security has issued a new rule requiring US suppliers to allocate 100% of their tungsten scrap to domestic buyers, not overseas ones.

The great tungsten squeeze has positioned Almonty as a pure play on ex-China supplies, especially as it advances its Sangdong Mine in South Korea toward full production. The project is expected to become a major source of non-Chinese tungsten for Western defense manufacturers and critical-mineral supply chains. The miner also operates one of the world's longest-producing tungsten mines in Portugal.

On the earnings front, the company's existing operations benefited from record tungsten prices during the second quarter. Revenue increased 498% from one year ago. Almonty reported net income of about $182 million, though most of that reflected a noncash accounting gain related to convertible securities.

Image via Cantor Fitzgerald: 

It's that very supply gap that shows why Almonty's mines in South Korea and Portugal are becoming extraordinarily important to the West, not just for defense industries facing a weapons-production supercycle because of depleted stockpiles and the urgent need to resupply, but also for the semiconductor industry, where tungsten hexafluoride is used to create microscopic connections inside advanced memory chips. The supply squeeze ties Almonty to Samsung, SK Hynix, other chipmakers, and the broader AI infrastructure boom.

At the start of the week, Almonty authorized a $300 million stock buyback, allowing it to purchase up to 5% of its outstanding shares over three years.

CEO Lewis Black wrote in a statement, "The Board authorized this program because we do not believe today's share price reflects the underlying value of this Company or the assets behind it."

"Almonty controls one of the largest and highest-grade tungsten deposits outside of China at precisely the moment Western governments and defense manufacturers are rebuilding their critical minerals supply chains around non-Chinese sources," Black said.

He added, "With Sangdong advancing toward full capacity, we believe our own shares are one of the most attractive investments available to us at current market pricing, and repurchasing them is a direct way to build value for the shareholders who own this business alongside us."

The buyback comes as Almonty's shares have diverged from tungsten prices since late April.

Almonty's story should be viewed within the broader China decoupling theme, a trend likely to accelerate as the Trump administration seeks to reindustrialize the US and secure critical supply chains. The underlying move here is to reduce exposure to Chinese supply chains before a potential invasion of Taiwan disrupts access to strategic minerals, semiconductors, and other materials essential to the Western defense-industrial base and now the entire AI data center buildout. 

Authored by Andrew Fenton via CoinTelegraph.com,

Australian tech firm Apate deploys a vast array of AI-bot characters worldwide that play the role of gullible scam victims to waste millions of hours of con artists’ time each month.

Hilariously, one of the company’s monthly performance metrics is how many times frustrated scammers swear at the idiot ‘victims’ who are playing dumb and stringing them along.

“I think we’re the only company in the world that is actually keeping as part of their KPIs the number of F-words that scammers are dropping at them,” Apate founder Dali Kaafar tells Magazine with a chuckle. 

The company has a stable of almost 200,000 AI characters that are able to hold convincing phone conversations and to chat on social media and messaging platforms.

”I can tell you that we’re basically servicing, as we call them, hundreds of thousands of calls a day, and pretty much hundreds of thousands of conversations on the other channels,” he says. 

Every hour of a con artist’s time they waste is another hour they’re not scamming a member of the public. In the six weeks up to the end of 2025, Apate’s bots engaged in 600,000 scam calls for a single telco called TPG in Australia. 

“Essentially, we wasted more than five hundred days of scammers’ time,” he explains. “That roughly equates to somewhere around thirteen million dollars being saved.”

The bots’ other goal is to elicit actionable intelligence for banks and telcos to combat scam rings across Australia, Asia, Africa and the UK and Europe.

Apate bots deal with scammers via chat. Source: Apate

Scam baiting at scale with AI victims

Kaafar says he got the idea when he received a scam call while having a picnic with his family in Sydney back in November 2021.

To his wife’s annoyance, but his kids’ delight, he strung the scammer along for 44 minutes by pretending to be a gullible rube falling for the scam. 

“What followed was really literally a full comedy show for my kids,” he says, adding that during the call he’d also learned a lot of potentially useful information about the mechanics of the scam and the tactics used.   

“As I hung up that call, I remember thinking very clearly: if I could do that just for fun, imagine what technology can do at scale.”

Working as a professor at Macquarie University at the time, he raised the idea with some of his doctoral students working on AI and security.

“I said, ‘Guys, there has to be a much better way of doing this. Let’s build something that is really automating this whole process of engaging scammers at scale, but also, perhaps most importantly, extracting all sorts of intelligence from these conversations.’ And that’s literally how it started.”

Within a few months they’d secured funding from the Office of National Intelligence to research the idea, and the project was spun off from the university into Apate in 2023. The company now works with most of the big banks in Australia, as well as numerous banks in the UK, South Africa and South East Asia. 

Apate is far from the only company scam baiting fraudsters using AI bots — though they are doing it on a greater scale than most. United Kingdom telco O2 rolled out an AI Granny campaign last year, which frustrates scammers by taking up hours of their time talking about her 28 cats. It was as much an ad campaign to warn the public about the dangers of scam calls as anything else.

O2’s highly entertaining AI Granny. Source: 02

Creating the perfect AI victims

Apate launched with 120 different personas across different genders, ages and personality types, and now have 197,000 personas with identifiable vocal tics, accents, and they make the same noises people make when they’re trying to think of what to say. 

“We spent a lot of time refining and building these AI bots that sound exactly like you and I and our neighbors,” he says. 

The AI models were trained on “hundreds and hundreds” of hours of recorded conversations between human scam baiters and scammers, so they can employ counter strategies.

“They know that they’re talking to bad guys, if you like, and they really navigate the conversations so that it sounds really very, very realistic to any scammer out there, even if a scammer is skeptical about things.”The bots get sent out on WhatsApp and Telegram to act as honeypots for scammers. While the old cliché that you can’t scam an honest man is not true, it’s still very possible to exploit the scammer’s desire for money. 

“They are cybercriminals, really. I think we just very often forget that they’re cybercriminals who are trying to get people’s life savings. And so that element of greed is sometimes what our bots also exploit.”

Bots collect valuable intel from each scam call

In the crypto industry, Apate works for “one of the leaders in blockchain analysis,” which may or may not be Chainalysis. They aren’t interested in wasting scammers’ time — they want intelligence on which wallets and methods scammers are using so they can track the flow of funds. 

“These bots, as they engage across different conversations, extract new crypto wallet addresses by the hundreds and by the thousands,” he says. “It’s data and intelligence that is coming literally before their damage happens.”

Scamming is big business, and the call centers are “pretty much corporate organizations,” Kaafar explains. 

“This data is very, very important because, literally, that’s the new account or the new wallet where you really need to pay extreme attention to. Because this is where these… scammer compounds are collecting their money or their funds with.”

“Think about it literally as being always ahead of the scammer’s tactics. And the more you know before the money gets transferred, the better it is.”

In July, Apate’s bots uncovered a marketplace for brokers soliciting verified bank accounts in India, offering commissions of up to 5% paid in USDT on the proceeds from scams passing through the accounts.

Apate’s human staff in Sydney. Source: Apate

AI arms race between good guys and bad guys

Scammers are increasingly using AI bots themselves, and it won’t be too long before AI scammers are as ubiquitous as spam emails. Scamming people is a $1.24 trillion business, so the industry can afford the compute required to scale up operations.
Apate’s research suggests that about 20% to 30% of scam text conversations employ AI already, but Kaafar isn’t too worried about the outcome of anti-scam bots fighting scam bots.
He says their researchers believe that AI bots playing defense have an advantage, according to game theory, because they’re trying to extract intelligence, while the scam bots are trying to get the other AI to perform an action.

“You can also demonstrate mathematically that that is to the advantage of a defender because it becomes easier to extract intelligence from the attacker’s AI model,” he says.

“We can imagine a world where scammers become a lot more sophisticated and deploy such technology. But that also means that if they do, they’re actually deemed to lose the game, which is great news in the fight against scams.”

The scandal and controversy over the USS Lincoln aircraft carrier continues, despite the Trump administration and top military brass reiterating this week that the issues have been hugely overblown. It's long been reported that the supercarrier which is front line in the war against Iran has suffered resupply problems, low morale, sub-standard conditions, and mental health problems given the over-extended deployment.

One prominent media outlet is now alleging that the crisis is largely due to War Secretary Pete Hegseth having "hid" a crucial piece of information - that amid Iran's retaliation during Operation Epic Fury, it had destroyed much of the main resupply base for the US Central Command region (CENTCOM).

MS Now senior national security reporter David Rohde made the claim, saying that when the logistics hub Naval Support Activity (NSA) Bahrain was struck by Iranian ballistic missiles at the start of the war, it effectively crippled Pentagon resupply and logistics for the Mideast region.

According to MS Now's reporting:

During a segment in MS Now discussing President Donald Trump's dismissal of reports of low morale and the mental health concerns of those aboard the carrier during an unusually long deployment, Rohde said the resupply issue was "because Pete Hegseth hid the fact that Iran destroyed the main resupply base that the United States has in the Gulf."

"He did not make that public in press conference after press conference, and that is, again, the way that they have mishandled this war," Rohde added. The full segment can be viewed here.

As a reminder, at the end of June the Wall Street Journal featured several satellite images which demonstrated the widespread destruction at the base. From there, the Pentagon was forced to only maintain a small staff there, and is said to be mulling abandoning it as an operations center altogether.

"When the Iranian missiles and drones came for the nerve center of America’s naval operations in the Middle East, some of them hit their mark," that prior WSJ reporting indicated. According to more:

The U.S. Navy base in Bahrain was repeatedly targeted between late February and June. Strikes that got through caused extensive damage, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of satellite imagery, social-media footage and interviews with current and former servicemembers—damage that the Pentagon hasn’t publicly acknowledged. Hit hard were the command headquarters and at least a dozen other buildings, along with two satellite communications terminals. 

The military said no one was killed at the base, known as Naval Support Activity Bahrain, and that the strikes didn’t significantly impact operations. The U.S. evacuated most personnel but has kept a small staff on the ground. 

,,,The extensive damage done to America’s sole naval base in the Middle East—along with hits to at least 20 U.S. sites across the region, including military installations and diplomatic facilities—has the U.S. re-evaluating its entire footprint in the region, according to U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.

All of this reportedly had significant impact on the USS Lincoln's ability to maintain standard supplies and conditions. Again, all of this is being downplayed or else outright denied by the Pentagon and US administration. 

Media headlines focused on the Lincoln have been growing over the summer...

We will quote one unnamed former national security insider who has offered the following...

"Bahrain NSA was critical to keeping carriers on station because it provided nearby supplies and you can't put the carriers in at ports within missile range of Iran as they will become sitting ducks (and sabotage targets). Bahrain NSA was a soft target (I've been there), and questions should be raised about why it wasn't hardened if we were going to use military force against Iran. Iran could not destroy a carrier so it did the next best thing and destroyed its logistics."