Meta is Testing Robot Technology to Replace Data Center Technicians

August 30, 2026

Robotics and Data Centers

According to a recent article in Wired, Meta has begun implementing advanced robotics in its data centers to automate various routine maintenance tasks 

The tech giant is experimenting with robots designed to perform duties such as cable swapping, rebooting frozen servers, and reseating hardware components. This initiative is part of Meta's strategy to enhance physical operations across its global network, particularly as it speeds up efforts to bolster its computing capabilities for artificial intelligence applications. However, insiders warn that the automation of these tasks may threaten the jobs of technicians, potentially eliminating up to 80% of their responsibilities.

We Cannot Stop the Floods, But we Can Cut the Death Toll

August 30, 2026

By Yiannis Damellos

I am willing to play devil's advocate just to prove my point. Can we agree on something other than climate change being responsible for every natural catastrophe these days? Just because the loss of life from natural disasters has increased lately, maybe we can agree on a common denominator. Something like "The purpose of a good government is not to prevent nature from killing us. It is to make sure that nature doesn't get to kill us simply because we failed to use everything science already knows." How about that for starters?

Maduro Shares Prison Photos as U.S. Controls Now 7.1% of Global Oil Reserves After Robbing his Country

Edited by Yiannis Damellos

August 30, 2026

Nicolás Maduro, the man who once ruled over the world’s largest proven oil reserves, appeared Sunday in photographs from a New York prison, sending a message to his supporters that he remained “standing firm” even as the political and economic landscape of Venezuela was being transformed around him.

The photographs, posted on social media, showed Maduro in a gray tracksuit making peace signs with both hands. He appeared thinner than before his capture by U.S. forces. 

Scientists discover a massive heat anomaly deep inside Mars

Science News from research organizations

Date: August 30, 2026

Source:Caltech

Summary: Mars has a hidden temperature divide, with its southern interior potentially hundreds of degrees hotter than the north and partially molten. The discovery could help explain several long-standing Martian mysteries, including unusual magnetism, seismic behavior, and clues to the planet’s ancient water history.

The museum charting how humans understand the world

Beautiful, surreal and eerily empty, Vienna's Globe Museum is the only public museum on Earth dedicated to globes, and it – quite literally – tells the story of our world.
8 hours ago
Maggie Downs

It's a chilly afternoon in Vienna, and the line for the Austrian National Library has already spilled out the door, curling like a ribbon around the grand Josefsplatz square. I'm not in the mood to wait – I've already struck out at several crowded nearby attractions where timed-entry tickets were sold out.

Iran war: US military strikes Iran's Larak Island — reports

CONFLICTSIRAN

Zac Crellin with AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters

Published 19 minutes agoPublished 19 minutes ago | last updated 9 minutes ago

The attack targeting Iranian rocket launchers in the Strait of Hormuz was the first in over a month. Iran's Revolutionary Guards have vowed retaliation. DW has the latest.

What you need to know

• The US reportedly conducted its first strikes on Iran in weeks
• The strikes targeted Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz
• Iran's Revolutionary Guard has vowed to retaliate against the attack

Congo is Paying The Price of Progress and Greed by Powering the Modern World with Sacrificial Labor

Source: The Independent

August 30, 2026

The midday sun beat down relentlessly on the red clay walls of the Shabara mine near Kolwezi, reports The Independent. Amidst a swarming sea of thousands of bodies clinging to the precarious dirt terraces, twenty-four-year-old Jean-Pierre swung a crude iron pickaxe into the rock face. His hands were calloused, and his lungs burned with a persistent cough from breathing in toxic, radioactive dust every day.

Greece, Turkey clash over protected Aegean marine areas

Kaki Bali 10 hours ago

DEUTSCHE WELLE 

Turkey has announced the creation of two protected zones in a disputed area of the Aegean Sea, sparking an angry reaction from Greece. Does this mark a new chapter in a long-running dispute between the two countries?

A stint of unfamiliar calm between Greece and Turkey lasted less than three years. After a devastating earthquake struck Turkey in February 2023 and Greece provided substantial aid, the two countries came closer together. They then signed the Athens Declaration on Friendly Relations and Good-Neighbourliness in December 2023, a further step to improved relations.

Ridley Scott’s new movie is about the end of the world, but he’s far from done

MOVIES

Director Ridley Scott, photographed in London in August.

(Oliver Mayhall / For The Times)

By Emily Zemler

Aug. 26, 2026 3 AM PT

• In a wide-ranging conversation, Ridley Scott, 88, the director of ‘Alien,’ ‘Blade Runner,’ and ‘Gladiator,’ turns his eye toward AI, global warming and kindness. 
• Scott ventures into sci-fi once more with ‘The Dog Stars,’ a postapocalyptic thriller that trades zombies for pandemics and asks whether hope can outlast catastrophe. 
• As he storyboards a new version of ‘Treasure Island’ and preps several projects, this fall’s honorary Oscar recipient insists he’s nowhere near finished.

Russian-American heads Trump's planned Caucasus trade route

BUSINESSARMENIA
Arshaluys Mgdesyan
9 hours ago

A Russian-born businessman heads the investment fund financing the so-called "Trump Route," a planned corridor through Armenia linking Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan. Who is Konstantin Sokolov, and what role does he play?

Iran trade falls as Supreme Leader Khamenei urges less reliance on the U.S. dollar

Politics & Policy
Published Sat, Aug 29 20268:06 AM EDT
Azhar Sukri

Key Points

• President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iranian imports and exports have fallen between 25% and 35%, with imports declining more.
• Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei calls for gradually reducing the U.S. dollar’s role and relying more heavily on domestic production.
• Iran’s August crude export loadings are down more than 80% from August 2025, according to Kpler.

Carnage in Kyiv: If Zelenskyy Didn’t Know, Who Put an Ammunition Depot Among Civilians?

August 29, 2026

Edited by Yiannis Damellos

“If Zelenskyy didn’t know the depot was there, but the Russians did, who knew—and who is actually running Ukraine's War?”

A Russian drone strike on a Ukrainian ammunition depot near Kyiv killed at least 37 people and devastated nearby civilian areas. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the storage of explosives near homes “terrible negligence” and promised an investigation. But his condemnation raises an uncomfortable question: Who authorized the depot, who knew it was there, and how could the president of a country at war not know?

The Census Bureau’s Unorthodox Foray Into Voter Roll Investigations

By Stephen Richer
August 28, 2026 10:39AM

Last week, President Trump used the official White House social media account to once again claim that he’d won the 2020 election (“I WON THE ELECTION!”). This time, his declaration stemmed from a seven-page Census Bureau report alleging at least 24,000 noncitizens voted in the 2020 general election (in which 154.6 million Americans voted).

At the risk of indulging the absurd: Trump’s claim isn’t supported. Even if we accept the report’s findings as facts (more on that below), it still doesn’t change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Of the states with the closest margins of victory for Joe Biden: Arizona (10,457 votes), Georgia (11,779), Wisconsin (20,682), Nevada (33,596), the Census report only alleges 1,100 (AZ), 400 (GA), 500 (WI), and 250 (NV) alleged noncitizens. And of course, we know that not every alleged unlawful noncitizen vote went for Biden.

The Himalayas are unpredictable. But countries are building there like never before

By Simone McCarthy
Updated 9 hr ago
Beijing - Deadly flooding along the China-Nepal border has put a sharp spotlight on how risks from natural disasters in the Himalayas are growing, at the same time that countries in the region are rapidly building out their high-altitude infrastructure footprints.

There’s no indication that the latest disaster, which has killed more than 600 people and left around 3,000 more missing on both sides of the border, was linked to manmade development. But the devastation could be a reality check for governments driving a boom in dams, tunnels, highways, railways and bridges across the Himalayas as they aim to harness the region’s vast hydropower potential and resources –– and fortify their borders there.

Western Commanders and Veterans Warn NATO Can’t Fight a Ukraine-Style War with Russia

North America, Western Europe and Oceania, Ground

MILITARY WATCH MAGAZINE 

Editorial Staff

August-27th-2026

U.S. Marines in Arctic Warfare Gear During Exercises in Norway

A senior Norwegian commander has warned that Western societies are fundamentally unprepared for a prolonged conflict on the scale and intensity of the war in Ukraine. Brigadier Atle Molde, who commands the Norway-led Task Force Legio responsible for training Ukrainian military personnel, recently warned: “We are not prepared. No Western country’s prepared.” He described avoiding a prolonged war of attrition as one of the most important lessons Norway and other Western countries should draw from Ukraine.

“No One Has Seen Anything Like It Before”: Mystery Surrounds Ancient Stone Structure Unearthed in Scotland

Archaeologists have made a baffling Iron Age discovery near Dornoch in northern Scotland. 

Micah Hanks

August 27, 2026

An unusual stone-lined structure containing human remains was unearthed during work by Highland Archaeological Services, a commercial archaeology company, in preparation for expansion at a local quarry in the area. The structure has left experts with a 2,000-year-old mystery on their hands, as they work to understand the purpose behind the unusual feature, which they say is unlike anything previously uncovered in the country.

US immigration officials arrest British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos

Yiannopoulos was arrested on Thursday and accused of overstaying after entering the US legally in May 2019 through NYC.

Friday 28 August 2026 23:04, UK

US immigration officials arrested controversial British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos on Thursday, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Yiannopoulos was arrested at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and accused of overstaying after entering the US legally in May 2019 through New York City

Trump says U.S. now has majority control of over 60 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves

By Joe Walsh, Ibrahim Aksoy

Updated on: August 28, 2026 / 8:28 PM EDT / 

CBS News

President Trump announced a deal Friday to grant the United States majority control of over 60 billion barrels of proven Venezuelan oil reserves — as the Trump administration angles to get oil companies to return to the country after a U.S. military operation replaced the country's leadership earlier this year.