UAE wins access to US AI chips and other advanced technology - Semafor

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has successfully transitioned from a regional nuclear pioneer to a global reference model for civil nuclear deployment. Following the full commercial operationalisation of the 5.6 GW Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) is actively pursuing its next strategic evolution. This “Next Nuclear Paradigm” has the potential to expand beyond large-scale baseload generation to encompass small modular reactors (SMRs), advanced modular reactors (AMRs), maritime decarbonisation and strategic positioning within the global nuclear fuel cycle. THE BARAKAH BASELINE AND THE BLUEPRINT FOR LARGE-SCALE EXPANSIONThe full operationalisation, in September 2024, of the four South Korean-built APR-1400 units at the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant marks a significant shift in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) energy architecture. Producing 40 TWh of zero-carbon electricity annually, Barakah single-handedly satisfies 25% of the UAE’s domestic power demand.

Here’s your NYT Strands hint for today, plus the spangram and all of today’s Strands answers for puzzle No. 959 on Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. Today’s Strands theme was tricky. It helps to be a runner. Read on for all the answers.

A supply-chain attack involving ConnectWise’s cloud services has exposed Microsoft 365 customers to unauthorized application access, with researchers reporting successful sign-ins across 173 partner and customer tenants. The incident centres on credentials associated with ConnectWise Cloud Backup, formerly SkyKick, and raises concerns about attackers exploiting permissions already entrusted to business software. ConnectWise has confirmed unauthorized access to application identities within its Cloud Backup environment. In an October 17 update on its service-status page, the company said it was shutting off application access, interrupting customer backups while investigation and remediation continued.