# Morning Briefing

Friday, April 24, 2026
📰 Top Stories

## Trump orders US military to ‘shoot and kill’ Iranian small boats choking Strait of Hormuz

AP News · Multiple Sources
Escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz as the US takes a hardline stance against Iranian naval activity.
GeopoliticsMilitary

## Trump reclassifies state-licensed medical marijuana as a less-dangerous drug

AP News · Multiple Sources
A historic shift in drug classification for medical marijuana, though legal complexities remain.
PolicyLaw

## Meta tells staff it will cut 10% of jobs

Bloomberg · Techmeme/HN
Meta continues its efficiency drive with another round of significant workforce reductions.
TechEconomy
💻 Tech

## Ransomware confirmed to be quantum-safe

Ars Technica
First confirmed case of a ransomware family utilizing post-quantum cryptography (PQC).
SecurityCryptography

## Cursor hit $2.7B in annualized sales in March

The Information · Techmeme
Massive growth for the AI editor, though it reported nearly $900M in losses last fiscal year.
AI ToolsSaaS

## Apple stops storing data that allowed Signal chat spying

Ars Technica
Apple fixes a bug that kept private chats stored even after the Signal app was deleted.
PrivacyApple
🌍 Wider Lens

## AI optimism surges in Asia, unlike in the U.S.

Rest of World
Americans are notably less excited and trusting of AI regulators compared to their Asian counterparts.
InternationalAI

## Trump plans $1 billion for Great Salt Lake

NPR News
Federal intervention targeted at the "environmental nuclear bomb" of the Great Salt Lake.
EnvironmentUS News
🔥 HN Deep Reads

## Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

Hacker News · 753 comments
A discussion on the right-to-repair and the value of "dumb" hardware in an era of software locks.
HardwareRightToRepair

## GPT-5.5 Release

Hacker News · 962 comments
High-density technical discussion on the capabilities and limits of the latest OpenAI model.
LLMAI
🎮 Gaming

## Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced Preview

Rock Paper Shotgun / Eurogamer
Ubisoft's ground-up remake of Black Flag is official; combat overhaul and stealth improvements.
RemakeUbisoft

## Xbox unveils new logo and "Starter Edition" tier

Eurogamer / Kotaku
Asha Sharma's new vision for Xbox includes a Discord-bundled subscription tier and a retro-inspired logo.
XboxGaming
⚖️ Bias Check

## Medical Marijuana Reclassification

Ground News · 314 sources
Covered by 314 sources (Left: 32%, Center: 54%, Right: 13%). Broad agreement on the fact of the shift, but diverging views on the legal logic.
BiasCheckPolicy

## Hormuz Strait Engagement Orders

Ground News · 210 sources
Covered by 210 sources (Left: 28%, Center: 41%, Right: 30%). Framing varies between "necessary security" and "dangerous escalation."
BiasCheckMilitary