The Islamic Republic of Iran has described several undersea fiber cables that run through the Strait of Hormuz as "legitimate new targets." The area has become a hotbed of conflict since the start of military action by the United States, Israel and others in February. General Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesman for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, referred to the cables in comments at an event this week, The Telegraph reports.

"Seven large cables pass beneath the Strait of Hormuz, and all internet and commercial data pass through them," according to Mohebbi. He went on to describe the cables as "legitimate new targets" for future assaults. Meanwhile, another IRGC General, Yadollah Javani, who serves as the IRGC's political deputy, has since suggested that if Iranian infrastructure is attacked, Iran will respond by attacking the cables, according to comments reported by Iran International.

The conflict between the United States and Iran has cooled, but it isn't quite over yet. Mohebbi suggested that a "third phase" in the war would reveal a "new geography" that would include "new targets and new weapons." One particular cable referenced by the IRGC appears to match the Asia-Africa-Europe-1 cable, a cable stretching 15,050 miles from Asia to Europe, traveling through Oman, the UAE and Qatar. Both the UAE and Qatar share direct maritime borders with Iran.

Experts believe the threat is credible. Professor Alesso Patalano, a war and strategy professor at King's College London, told The Telegraph that "not only is it possible, but it's been a rather clear possibility for a long time," adding that divers could "go down to the seabed... and cut them or destroy them." Such attacks aren't "unheard of," going on to reference the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline attack near Denmark in 2022, supposedly by Ukrainian agents, as an example.

Meanwhile, further comments, made to The Telegraph, suggest that Iran had considered cutting the cables several times since the war began. However, up until now, Tehran had avoided doing so, as it would mean "declaring war on the whole world and building new enemies," according to another unnamed Iranian spokesman, although stating that it would continue to be "an option if Trump escalates."

Iran isn't the only country that has taken a special interest in undersea infrastructure. A Russian ship, for instance, was chased from British waters by a Royal Navy attack helicopter earlier this year as it loitered for 14 hours less than a mile from five undersea cables that connect the UK with Spain, Portugal, Canada, and the U.S.

Right now, the best way to pick up a gaming PC is to buy a pre-built, with hardware prices shooting through the roof. Luckily, the big tech retailers continue to throw out deals for gamers to take advantage of. For instance, you can pick up this ABS Cyclone Aqua machine with an RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GPU, giving you 1440-capable performance for $1,499.99.

● Check out this deal at Newegg

If you took these specs and tried to build a matching PC yourself, you'd struggle to beat this price. Front and center here is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti with 16GB of VRAM: a formidable option for a budget-friendly gaming PC. You're also getting a 20-core Intel Core i7-14700F CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD.

With the Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti at your disposal, you're getting one of Nvidia’s latest-generation mid-tier graphics cards. It has 4,608 CUDA cores and a boost clock speed of 2,527MHz. Unlike the more power-hungry top-end RTX 50-series cards, you only need one eight-pin PCIe connector to deliver power here, so you can banish those worries about burning GPU cables.

Our RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB review makes clear how good the performance is with this Blackwell GPU for gamers, especially at 1080p and 1440p. The charts you'll see below show that, especially with ray tracing in the mix, compared to rival cards at this level. Full DLSS support is included, too, so you can add multi-frame generation as a backstop. That'll give you a nice frame rate boost in the most resource-heavy games if you're pushing up to the highest resolutions.

You can also count on 16GB of GDD7 VRAM with this GPU. That makes it a much more appealing option than 8GB variants you might have to settle for in other rigs at this price point. 16GB gives you more headroom, as far as performance goes, for the most resource-heavy games at 1440p.

For the CPU, you're getting the Intel Core i7-14700F. This continues to be a popular CPU option for gaming, despite being a little older. This Raptor Lake Refresh CPU has 20 cores, with eight performance cores, which are the ones you'll want for gaming, along with 12 efficient cores for multi-threaded work. It also has a maximum turbo clock speed of 5.4 GHz, along with a 65W TDP. At 1080p or 1440p, you won't see much of a bottleneck with the 14700F at your disposal in modern games.

No risk of settling for slower DDR4 RAM here, either. You get fast DDR5 instead, with 16GB of G.Skill Flare X5 DDR5 memory included with speeds of 6,000 MT/s. You aren't getting 32GB, which is a compromise, but you do have room to upgrade later, and DDR5 ensures some extra longevity.

Storage-wise, you're also getting a 1TB Patriot P410 SSD. It has Gen 4 speeds, with that 1TB of storage ensuring you get space for a couple of the big AAA games alongside your Windows installation. This ABS build also comes with Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 wireless connectivity, along with gigabit Ethernet for a wired connection to your local network.

The $1,499.99 sale price for this ABS Cyclone Aqua gaming PC makes it an affordable option for gamers who want a 1440p-ready rig right now, especially with prices rising elsewhere. The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is the standout component, but there's no guarantee that this price will last for very long.

Chinese technology giants ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent have reportedly spent over $35 billion on orders for more than 3 million Nvidia RTX Pro 5500 workstation GPUs. The huge order for the RTX Pro 5500, fully compliant with U.S. restrictions on exports of AI-capable GPUs to China, is reportedly far beyond Nvidia's planned production for this card. As a result, Nvidia has, according to sources who spoke to Reuters, told its customers that it isn't in a position to fill the orders as it far outstrips its planned production for this GPU.

The RTX Pro 5500 is a workstation GPU with the same number of CUDA cores as its flagship RTX 5090 GPU, but with 84GB of GDDR7 memory attached, making it a good option for AI applications. The RTX Pro 5500 is a popular choice at the moment for Chinese buyers as exporting it isn't currently restricted by the U.S. government. It's less powerful than the H200 and B300, Nvidia's AI-focused GPUs for the enterprise market, but those GPUs remain either banned or heavily restricted. As China competes with the U.S. in the race to produce newer, better AI models, GPUs like the RTX Pro 5500 continue to be indispensable.

The report reveals some interesting data about the Chinese tech firms orders. Two of its sources revealed that the cards are priced at around $11,400 each, reaching a total order value of $35 billion. Meanwhile, another source suggested that Nvidia has informed its partners that it may only be able to deliver enough cards to meet between 5% and 10% of the demand. Meanwhile, Nvidia is reportedly in a position to only produce 3 million RTX Pro 5500 cards globally in 2027.

Neither Nvidia nor the three Chinese companies have confirmed any of this on the record. However, an Nvidia spokesman told Reuters that demand from the Chinese market for these chips has faced "unprecedented growth since 2022" since export restrictions were introduced. "U.S. firms continue to be restricted by a combination of outdated U.S. export controls, which cover gaming products released nearly half a decade ago, and China's own limits on U.S. imports."

While trade hostility between the U.S. and China shows no sign of abating, demand for Nvidia's GPUs hasn't slowed down, despite U.S. attempts to restrict Nvidia's ability to export to China. Meanwhile, export-restricted Nvidia AI chips continue to reach China despite the restrictions, bypassing the Trump administration's efforts in the process.

There's no point upgrading your internet connection if you've got a bad Wi-Fi router slowing you down. If the ISP-provided router isn't up to the task, and you're ready to banish the lag, you'll want to pick up this TP-Link router, on sale for a limited time only. The TP-Link Archer BE9700, also known as the BE600, is down to $189.98 right now, giving you a 24% saving on its list price.

● Check out this TP-Link router deal on Amazon

With the BE9700, you're getting a tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router with six external antennas, enough to give you coverage for up to 2,600 sq. ft. with up to 120 different devices connecting to it. TP-Link reckons you can expect to see speeds of up to 5,765 Mbps on the fastest 6 GHz band, with 2,882 Mbps at 5 GHz, and 1,032 Mbps at 2.4 GHz. MLO, or Multi-Link Operation, support means you're able to connect using these different bands at the same time, giving you even faster speeds and better protection against congestion.

Our TP-Link BE9700 review shows this is a serious option for your network. This is a good value router with solid Wi-Fi 7 support, with speeds that make it a competitive option, especially at this price point. Our review shows that it comes with class-leading 6 GHz performance, with decent enough speeds at 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz. It's the top choice in our best Wi-Fi router shortlist, too.

While Wi-Fi 7 support is the big deal here, the wired connections aren't bad, either. You get a 10Gb WAN port to hook this router up to your super-fast modem, giving you max speeds. You also get four 2.5Gb Ethernet ports for your home devices, including your PC, laptop, NAS drives, game consoles, and more.

Aside from the speeds, you get a USB 3.0 port on the side, which you could use to hook up a printer or external hard drive as a basic NAS. EasyMesh support, meanwhile, means you can use this as a wireless node in a mesh network. It also has Quality of Service controls to help you prioritize traffic for your core devices, such as your gaming PC, so you don't lose out when you're gaming.

The $189.98 sale price for this TP-Link Archer BE9700 router is a good one, even if it has yo-yo'd in price over recent months. That said, this is a solid discount off the $249.99 list price that it was at a few weeks ago, and one that'll give you an ultra-fast upgrade to your local network.

A Norwegian company building fiber networks and data centers across Europe is looking for a majority partner to help fund and build a transatlantic undersea cable that would connect Canada with Europe directly, bypassing the United States. The project follows worsening relations between Washington and Ottawa, with the Canadian government looking to reduce direct reliance on its immediate neighbor, Bloomberg reports.

Project Leif Erikson, if it goes ahead, would stretch more than 2,800 miles, starting at the southern tip of Norway and ending up at Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Canada's eastern province of Newfoundland and Labrador. From there, it would continue underground over Canadian territory, passing through Quebec before reaching Montreal.

According to Bulk's co-founder, Peder Nærbø, the link would be part of a "sovereign cable system" for Canada. The project was touted to investors at a global investors summit, arranged by the Canadian government, in September, where the project claimed to provide "direct, secure, high-capacity data transmission for AI, telecom and hyperscale markets."

Canadian Industry Minister Melanie Joy, meanwhile, met with Nærbø earlier this year, and although the department declined to comment on Leif Erikson itself, it told Bloomberg that security and resilience for Canada's infrastructure are "key priorities" for PM Mark Carney's government. Only a few undersea cables currently connect Canada without passing through the United States first, and none by a company owned by Canada. The biggest, called Topez, is owned by Google owner Alphabet and connects Canada with Japan.

As for Bulk, it has, up until now, laid more than 6,200 miles of cabling locally and at sea. Bulk's goal is to "unlock the Nordics' potential for... renewable energy to be utilized for digital infrastructure." Nærbø believes that "Canada lacks resilience" but "the game-changer was when the current situation with the U.S. escalated."

Leif Erikson has backers, according to the report, but the EU and Canada still need to plan and sign off on the project and its route. Additional financing will be needed to get started, too, with it expected to cost more than $620 million to build. Bulk itself has significant Canadian investment, with 65% of the company owned by a real estate subsidiary of Canada's Sun Life Financial Inc., with several Canadian pension funds also invested.

Leif Erikson is a project that Nærbø has sought to kickstart for the last five years without success. With geopolitical pressures and old alliances fraying, however, new opportunities for its development have given it steam. To that end, Canada and Europe intend to endorse a statement in Montreal on October 29 that the two will look for "the best way to enhance digital links between Europe, Canada and Asia through new subsea cable infrastructure."

It won't be without challenges, however, including a 1,180-mile underground route through Canada that'll require the backing of Indigenous communities. Meanwhile, other European efforts include an undersea cable project at the North Pole to link Europe with Asia to bypass Russia and the Middle East.

At the moment, the best value for money when you're thinking about a new gaming PC is to pick a pre-built, especially a discounted one. With that in mind, Newegg has slashed the price of this ABS Flux II Aqua gaming PC with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 by $500, bringing it down to just $1,799.99.

● Check out this deal at Newegg

The core components in this build include the Intel Core I7-14700F, still a popular choice in pre-builts, along with that powerful Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070. The RTX 5070 is a solid, mid- to high-tier option for gaming that'll ensure you'll be able to hit high frame rates at 1440p, with the potential for 4K, too. You're also getting 32GB of DDR5 RAM here, along with a 1TB SSD for storage.

Our RTX 5070 review makes clear what a good performer this mid-tier GPU is for gamers in this current generation. It's on our best GPU list as the best all-rounder option for gamers right now, too. This is a solid 1440p card, but with Nvidia DLSS features at your disposal, including multi-frame generation to boost your frame rates, you'll be helped to push it even further.

With the RTX 5070, you're getting 6,144 CUDA cores and 12GB of GDDR6 VRAM, operating on a 192-bit memory bus. Performance-wise, you can expect the highest frame rates at 1080p, along with 1440p, even at Ultra. 4K will push it harder, and you might need to drop down a preset or two for stability, or make use of multi-frame gen to cover the gaps.

Coupled with the RTX 5070 is the Intel Core i7-14700F. This Raptor Lake Refresh CPU is getting older, but it's still popular and powerful, too. It has 20 cores, 12 of which are efficient cores for multi-threaded work, with the final eight performance cores giving you the power you'll need for gaming. With the RTX 5070 alongside it, there isn't much of a bottleneck here for gaming with the 14700F, and it'll handle 1440p with little trouble.

Elsewhere, you're getting 32GB of G.Skill Flare X5 RAM, split dual-channel across two 16GB modules, with speeds of 6,000 MT/s, leaving slower DDR4 memory far behind. You're also getting a 1TB Kingston SNV3S SSD here, offering Gen 4 speeds, with enough space for a couple of big AAA games alongside Windows.

The $1,799.99 sale price for this ABS Flux II Aqua gaming PC is a good one in the current market. ABS is Newegg's own brand, and the specs you're getting here are formidable for the price, especially for under $1,800.