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When AMC 's The Walking Dead was at its peak, the series could do no wrong. As has been discussed so many times, the show seemed to fall off a cliff thanks to too many character deaths and survivors who did nothing but mope around. Still, the universe The Walking Dead created was popular enough to lead to several spin-offs, the most intriguing of which was The Walking Dead: Dead City . Unlike others, which paired characters who loved each other, The Walking Dead: Dead City forces bitter enemies Maggie ( Lauren Cohan ) and Negan ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan ) to become reluctant allies. After a pretty good first season, Season 2 was more disappointing , but not only is the third time around vastly better , it's the best season of any Walking Dead spin-off .

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BRÜSSEL – Die Europäische Kommission erklärte am Mittwoch, sie gehe davon aus, dass europäische Generika von den jüngsten Zöllen des US-Präsidenten Donald Trump ausgenommen seien. Sie verwies darauf, dass sich Washington im Rahmen des transatlantischen Handelsabkommens vom vergangenen Jahr zu einem Zollsatz von null verpflichtet habe.

Trump hatte am Dienstag angekündigt, ab August 2028 einen Zollsatz von 100 Prozent auf Generika zu erheben, um die Arzneimittelproduktion zurück in die Vereinigten Staaten zu holen. Sollte dieser Plan umgesetzt werden, würde der Zollsatz im Jahr 2029 auf 200 Prozent steigen, erklärte der Präsident in einem Social-Media-Beitrag.

Im Rahmen des 2025 in Turnberry, Schottland, geschlossenen Handelsabkommens haben die USA jedoch zugesagt, europäische Generika von höheren Abgaben auszunehmen. Das Abkommen sieht vor, dass Exporte von EU-Generika lediglich dem US-Zollsatz für die Meistbegünstigung unterliegen, einem Satz, der für alle Partner der USA gilt und faktisch 0 Prozent beträgt.

Im Rahmen der gemeinsamen Erklärung „haben sich die Vereinigten Staaten verpflichtet, Generika von den 15-prozentigen Zöllen auszunehmen; daher gilt weiterhin die Meistbegünstigungsklausel (MFN), was einem Zollsatz von 0 Prozent entspricht“, erklärte der stellvertretende Chefsprecher der Europäischen Kommission, Olof Gill. Er fügte hinzu, dass innovative Arzneimittel aus der EU weiterhin einem Zollsatz von 15 Prozent unterliegen.

„Dies zeigt deutlich, dass die gemeinsame Erklärung der EU und der USA ihre Wirkung entfaltet, indem sie Stabilität und Vorhersehbarkeit gewährleistet und einen wichtigen strategischen Sektor vor Störungen und Zollerhöhungen schützt“, betonte Gill. Die Vereinbarung an sich ist zwar nicht rechtsverbindlich, doch jeder Verstoß gegen ihre Bestimmungen würde wahrscheinlich eine Welle gegenseitiger Zollvergeltungsmaßnahmen auslösen.

Trumps jüngste Drohung kommt zu einem Zeitpunkt, an dem seine Regierung nach einem rechtlichen Rückschlag zu Beginn dieses Jahres eilig versucht, ihre Zollmauer wieder aufzubauen, da die vorübergehenden Zölle in Höhe von 10 Prozent am Freitag auslaufen sollen. Obwohl Washington beteuerte, dass die neuen Untersuchungen die im transatlantischen Abkommen festgelegte 15-Prozent-Schwelle nicht überschreiten würden, bereitet sich die EU dennoch auf weitere Untersuchungen vor, die sich auf Zwangsarbeit, Überkapazitäten im verarbeitenden Gewerbe und möglicherweise auch die Steuer auf digitale Dienstleistungen beziehen.

Risiken durch Arzneimittelknappheit

Die EU-Generika-Lobby „Medicines for Europe“ erklärte, die Maßnahmen könnten „erhebliche Arzneimittelengpässe in den gesamten Vereinigten Staaten“ auslösen. Patentfreie Arzneimittel aus Europa „sollten gemäß dem Turnberry-Abkommen unter allen Umständen von Zöllen ausgenommen bleiben“, so der Branchenverband.

Der Schweizer Generikahersteller Sandoz erklärte am Mittwochmorgen, es sei „noch zu früh, um die möglichen Auswirkungen einzuschätzen, da noch weitere Einzelheiten zur Umsetzung und zum Umfang der Maßnahme erforderlich sind“. Ein Sprecher von Sandoz fügte hinzu, das Unternehmen werde den Dialog mit den politischen Entscheidungsträgern darüber fortsetzen, wie die Erschwinglichkeit und der Zugang zu Medikamenten in den USA verbessert werden können.

Die Bedrohung für Generika erhöht den Druck auf die Pharmabranche, nachdem die Trump-Regierung Deutschland wegen seiner Preisgestaltung bei Arzneimitteln mit neuen Abgaben gedroht hatte.

Washington wirft Berlin vor, dass die dortigen Gesetze dazu führen, dass die USA einen unverhältnismäßig hohen Anteil der Forschungs- und Entwicklungskosten für innovative Arzneimittel tragen müssen. Der US-Handelsbeauftragte Jamieson Greer erklärte letzte Woche, er führe auch Gespräche mit Frankreich über dessen Preisgestaltung.

„Der Pharmasektor ist auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks von entscheidender Bedeutung – mit stark vernetzten Lieferketten, engen Verbindungen in den Bereichen Investitionen und Forschung sowie weitgehend ausgeglichenen Handelsströmen. Die Aufrechterhaltung dieser Verbindungen ist sowohl für den Zugang der Patienten zu Medikamenten als auch für die Aufrechterhaltung von Innovationen von entscheidender Bedeutung“, fügte Gill, der Sprecher der Kommission, hinzu.

Dieser Text erschien zuerst auf Englisch bei POLITICO.

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New research explains a method that helps AI make 3D CAD programs from images, which would help product designers and engineers more quickly and easily create 3D prototypes. Naturally, this also sparks deep-rooted dread over it helping robots to build themselves, relegating humanity to the trash. But setting aside my noir nightmares, the new method looks like it could be of significant benefit to some 3D designers and engineers.

According to the paper [PDF] , the method the researchers have come up with "reduces dependence on inference compute" and performs much more efficiently than the usual 'supervised fine-tuning' (SFT) approach—up to 80% more efficient, in fact.

In the abstract for the paper, the researchers explain that making CAD programs from images "requires alignment between visual geometry and symbolic program representations" which current training methods can't easily or cheaply handle. The problem, they claim, is in "the scarcity of diverse training examples."

"Existing finetuning approaches rely on either limited supervised datasets or expensive post-training pipelines, resulting in brittle systems that restrict progress in generative CAD design. We argue that the primary bottleneck lies not in model or algorithmic capacity, but in the scarcity of diverse training examples that align visual geometry with program syntax."

The solution seems to be to let the model take its mistakes and use those as training data. Lead author and Red Hat researcher Giorgio Giannone explains: "We want engineers to be able to point our framework at an underperforming CAD model, set a compute budget, and let the system take over—turning the model’s own mistakes into better training data."

Senior co-author prof. Faez Ahmed expands: "What excites me about this work is that it gives many image-to-CAD-code models a way to improve themselves, learning from their own errors rather than waiting for more human-made data—and that brings trustworthy AI design tools much closer to everyday engineering."

(Image credit: San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers / Contributor via Getty Images) The solution described in the research, which was funded in part by the MIT-IBM Computing Research Lab, is 'Geometric Inference Feedback Tuning' (GIFT). This asks the AI model to solve CAD generation multiple times and then augment any almost-correct solutions to become correct ones. Part of the benefit of this way of doing it is the model essentially generates its own training data automatically.

The result is training that can be up to 80% more efficient than the traditional method, as explained in the paper: "GIFT matches the peak performance of the SFT model (achieved via extensive rejection sampling) while reducing the inference compute requirement by approximately 80%."

Peak performance that's up to 80% more efficient, and all done without the need for human input... lovely stuff, but I just can't help returning to the image of those robots turning to us under a smoggy, industrial twilight and saying, ' We won't be needing you anymore.'

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A mysterious coupe prototype or test mule was spotted testing in Japan.

It is still unclear whether Toyota will revive the MR2, the Celica, or both.

Reports suggest the new GR model will use a mid-engine AWD layout.

Toyota keeps pushing ahead on a mid-engine GR model, and while we don’t yet know whether it wears the Celica name, the MR2 badge, or whether the company revives both nameplates on different cars, the machine itself is clearly coming. Now we might have our first look at a prototype or test mule, possibly the MR2, moving past the GR Yaris Concept M racer that served as a test bed, caught during track testing in Japan.

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More: Toyota’s Mid-Engine MR2 Is Closing In, And It’s Hiding Inside A GR Yaris Concept

A pair of photos and a short video of the mystery Toyota prototype landed on X courtesy of user @You_SuiKoyoAZ and went viral fast. The car has a sporty stance and a two-door coupe silhouette, with Yaris-sourced headlights and taillights set against deep bumpers, a pronounced splitter, wide fender extensions, and a fixed swan-neck rear wing.

Photo @You_SuiKoyoAZ / X

Whether this is a parts-bin mule or an early development prototype is still unclear, though either way it looks cobbled together from existing hardware.

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The large cooling intakes on the rear fenders and the deep hood vent all but confirm a mid-mounted powertrain, following the same recipe as the GR Yaris M Concept from 2025. It also looks different from the rally-spec Gazoo Racing prototype spotted testing in WRC stages earlier this year .

All-Wheel-Drive Layout

Photo @You_SuiKoyoAZ / X

The original MR2 ran a mid-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, but the new car is widely tipped to go mid-engine all-wheel drive with Torsen limited-slip differentials front and rear. The transmission sits at the back, and a prop shaft feeds power forward to the front axle. Engineers have said that in the Yaris test bed, the car can send everything to the rear or route up to half forward. What we still don’t know is whether Toyota sticks with an 8-speed automatic only or throws in the option of a manual.

Toyota’s New G20E Four-Cylinder

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走行動画 pic.twitter.com/5LxZVE7FCC

— ∬なのぽよ∬🧪🗿 💬🔁💙 𝙉𝙚𝙭𝙩→？ (@You_SuiKoyoAZ) July 22, 2026

Powering the new MR2 and/or Celica is Toyota’s new G20E, a 2.0-liter turbocharged, direct-injection four-cylinder set to replace the 1.6-liter turbo three from the GR Yaris and GR Corolla. Toyota says it engineered the unit to be both stronger and more compact than the 2.4-liter turbo four already used across its range, targeting around 300 horsepower and 400 Nm (295 lb-ft) of torque in regular applications and climbing to 400 hp and 550 Nm (406 lb-ft) in hotter versions. A racing variant of the same engine is also in the cards, potentially making as much as 600 hp.

This is a developing story and will be updated…

ミュージアムのカフェにいたらなんかきた…!!

な に こ れ pic.twitter.com/T9TMktQEnz

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— ∬なのぽよ∬🧪🗿 💬🔁💙 𝙉𝙚𝙭𝙩→？ (@You_SuiKoyoAZ) July 22, 2026

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A World of Warcraft game master has been accused of helping a Twitch streamer's Mythic group cheat a high-level dungeon by using their GM powers to insta-kill an enemy, and Blizzard says it's actively investigating the situation as evidence piles up.

This began with a July 21 Reddit post from user Acrobatic_Pianist688, who claimed to have seen a "Blizzard GM death touching mobs in M+23 for their favorite streamer." Of course, we don't actually know if anyone's "favorite" streamer was involved, but Acrobatic_Pianist did link to a Warcraft Log record showing an abrupt end to a Mythic+23 fight in the Nexus-Point Xenas dungeon, caused by an "instakill" and "Area Death (TEST)" effect from user Daijosai, believed to be the GM in question.

Game masters are Blizzard employees with World of Warcraft privileges and permissions that enable them to resolve in-game disputes and support requests.

The incident caught fire online, and chatter only intensified after this Warcraft log was highlighted in a stream from WoW content creator yumytv during a conversation with Yiesus , a small Twitch streamer and one of the apparent teammates in this dungeon run, who's described by yumy as "witness testimony."

The moment was clipped and shared, the Twitch chat filled with accusations of "cheater," after Yiesus openly said, "I go to my GM friend, I'm like, bro, please can you do me a solid? This thing has 20 mil bro, can you please just one-shot? One time for the one time. I meant no harm from it. If Blizzard wants to revoke that key or revoke my title, whatever they see fit, I don't care. Personally, I think it was harmless. I didn't expect him to do it. In hindsight he shouldn't have done it. He was just doing me a solid."

One of the other streamers in this dungeon run, YaraByte , shared the same clip on her Twitter.

This mess quickly reached the official Blizzard forums , with players calling for the GM to be punished and the clear to be revoked, prompting a response from Blizzard. Late Tuesday night, community manager Randy 'Kaivax' Jordan replied, both in the forum thread and to the original Reddit post .

"Thank you to those who flagged this," Jordan says. "We are reviewing and will take action as appropriate. A fair and competitive playing field is essential to our games, and we won’t tolerate cheating."

Blizzard continues taking action against World of Warcraft private servers as it pushes on with a lawsuit citing "large-scale, egregious, and ongoing infringement" of its MMO.