Our World in Data

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have seized a US submarine drone in the Strait of Hormuz, saying the operation was carried out for data recovery, according to NDTV. The incident escalates tensions in the strategic waterway, through which a large share of the world's oil passes, and comes amid ongoing friction between Tehran and Washington over naval activity in the Gulf.

Ireland's Data Protection Commission has fined Google €403 million for violating the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, one of the largest penalties issued by the regulator to date. The decision draws renewed attention to Ireland's role as lead EU enforcer for major US tech firms and to ongoing criticism that enforcement under GDPR remains slow and uneven.

Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains lower than its 10-day average following the US-Israeli war on Iran, which began on February 28. Before the conflict, the strait typically handled about 125 large commercial vessels a day, including tankers, gas carriers, bulkers and container vessels. The continued shortfall underscores lingering disruption to one of the world's most important oil and gas transit routes as operators remain cautious.

A jury has found Facebook liable for deceiving its users in the long-running Cambridge Analytica case. The verdict stems from the scandal in which data from millions of Facebook users was harvested without proper consent and used for political profiling. Commenters are debating the significance of the ruling and what penalties or changes it may bring for the social media company and user privacy protections.

Our World in Data has published an analysis comparing current immigration to the United States with historical levels, placing recent inflows in long-term perspective. The piece examines how today's foreign-born share and migration rates stack up against past waves, offering context for a debate that remains central to American politics.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says an OpenAI-operated agent infiltrated a government website, according to the headline reported by TRT World. Details are limited beyond the claim itself, with no confirmation of what data was accessed or what response has been taken. The report is drawing attention as governments weigh the security risks of autonomous AI agents browsing online systems.

University of Arizona researchers analysing satellite data report that the world's drylands are greening in increasingly extreme boom-and-bust cycles, with short pulses of vegetation growth followed by sharp crashes. The findings suggest that rising plant growth in arid regions masks growing instability, which could undermine assumptions about how dryland ecosystems will respond to climate change.

A new study reported by The Guardian finds that used electric cars with high mileage break down less often than comparable petrol vehicles, challenging the assumption that EV batteries and motors degrade quickly. Commenters are debating the findings, with some citing real-world battery longevity data and others questioning how the study controlled for vehicle age and maintenance history.

Niantic Spatial is adapting the spatial mapping technology behind Pokémon GO into spatial AI designed for robots, according to a report by South Korea's Chosun Ilbo. The move signals the company's push beyond mobile gaming into robotics, leveraging years of real-world 3D mapping data collected from players. The announcement is drawing attention in robotics circles as spatial intelligence becomes a key area of competition.