Bloomberg A consortium of Australia’s biggest banks has abandoned its attempt to negotiate as a bloc with Apple Inc. over the cost of using its mobile payment system, narrowing its claim to focus solely on access to a key piece of iPhone technology. In their final submission to the competition regulator, the banks hit back at earlier claims by …

  Bloomberg The Pentagon is paying hackers to test its key internal systems for vulnerabilities — and they are finding weaknesses faster than expected. In a pilot project this past month, the Pentagon’s Defense Digital Service let about 80 security researchers into a simulated “file transfer mechanism” the department depends on to send sensitive e-mails, documents and images between networks, …

  New York / DPA It’s a challenge for war reporters to get information as conflicts rage in remote parts of the world, making it hard or even impossible for civilians to get there and file news reports. Another dilemma is the opposite predicament – having too much information. Conflicts like the Syrian war have produced a flood of YouTube …