SBS News: ‘Unfounded and premature’: Why experts say parents shouldn’t panic about screen time
A new international study following more than 3,000 children since 2009 found no link between screen-time duration and developmental difficulties at age five or ten. Australian experts note that worries about an “iPad baby” generation may be both unfounded and premature — the study predates today’s tablets and smartphones, and what matters most is what children watch and how, not just how long.
TechCrunch: Nvidia doesn’t mess around: A week after open AI industry group formed, it’s already showing progress
A week after its founding, the Nvidia-led industry group Open Secure AI Alliance — already more than 120 companies strong — has formed a working group called SAFE, drafting guidelines for confidentially reporting AI cybersecurity incidents, alerting those affected, and analyzing them without assigning blame. Adobe, Cisco and Microsoft have joined, but Anthropic, OpenAI and Google are still notably absent — even though the latter two signed the original letter urging the US government not to restrict open-source AI models.
The New York Times: Video: Veterinary Students Learn to Care for Honeybees as Populations Decline
Veterinary students at the University of Georgia are learning to care for honeybees — vital pollinators for US agriculture — after more than half of the country’s European honeybee colonies were lost between 2024 and 2025.
Financial Times: Do natural GLP-1s work?
Do natural alternatives to GLP-1 injections like Ozempic actually work? A capsule called Elcella, developed by British neuroscientists from linseed, MCT and coconut oils (about £189/month), produced an average 6kg weight loss in trials; a supplement called Calocurb, backed partly by New Zealand government funding, uses a hops-flower extract that boosts the body’s own GLP-1 sixfold and may help people wean off injections. But Dr Megan Rossi of King’s College London warns that the effect, while plausible in theory, still lacks real-world evidence of effectiveness.
LRT.lt: Hundred years later, Argentina’s Lithuanian diaspora revisits its roots
A hundred years after his great-grandparents emigrated from Lithuania to Argentina, Juan Ignacio Fourment Kalvelis (Jonas Kalvelis) has obtained Lithuanian citizenship. Around 35,000 Lithuanians emigrated to Argentina before World War II, and today an estimated 300,000 people of Lithuanian descent live there — with growing numbers of third- and fourth-generation descendants obtaining citizenship and relearning the Lithuanian language.
Financial Times: The UAE’s imperial push into Africa
A new FT series on the UAE’s growing influence in Africa opens with the early days of Sudan’s 2023 civil war, when the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces seized Khartoum’s gold processing facility and central bank, stealing at least 1.5 tonnes of gold worth $100m and moving it through Chad and South Sudan to the UAE. Under the leadership of its autocratic ruler Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the UAE has made investments, gained influence and supplied weapons and military equipment across the continent. The UAE holds mining rights in DR Congo and Guinea, has leased farmland and ports, and manages green-energy projects — creating tension with African state sovereignty, especially in Sudan.
Apple briefly pulled Telegram from the App Store — unavailable for some users in the US, India, Australia and Singapore for a period — after an internal review found content violating its rules against the sexual exploitation of children. The app was restored after the developer promptly removed the content and blocked the user who posted it; Telegram’s account on X responded with a paraphrased Mark Twain quote about reports of its death being greatly exaggerated. The app remains available in Russian stores, though with some issues, and in late July Russia added Telegram founder Pavel Durov to its list of terrorists and extremists.
Yle: Naked no more? Tampere’s pool saunas now allow swimsuits
In Finland, where nudity has long been the norm in public swimming-pool saunas, pools across the Pirkanmaa region — including Tampere — will now let visitors wear swimwear in the sauna, though it won’t be mandatory. The change is an open-ended trial, to be reviewed next spring, aimed at promoting equality and making pools more welcoming to a wider range of visitors.
Kenya’s boarding-school system is nearing a breaking point. Since May, student protests accompanied by school burnings have spread nationwide, and by early June the Ministry of Education had counted 204 affected schools. It all started with a fire at Gilgil Girls’ Boarding School that killed 16 students. Meanwhile, at Lang’ata Boys High School in Nairobi, students burned down a dormitory after a ban on watching World Cup matches. Principal Paul Ojera says the protests’ real goal is freedom. Students simply want out. The piece traces the roots to Kenya’s colonial-era boarding-school model, with testimony about harsh routines and corporal punishment.
PBS NewsHour: How heavy school backpacks can strain kids’ bodies
The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that an overly heavy school backpack can strain a child’s back, though serious injury is uncommon — warning signs include leaning forward or difficulty walking. A backpack is often said to be safe up to 10-15% of a child’s body weight, but there’s no solid scientific consensus behind that figure. Teachers offer a simpler fix: leave the extras at home and pack only what’s actually needed.
CBC News: UN investigators urge Canada to step up protection for threatened Sikh activist
Five UN special rapporteurs have written to the Canadian government urging stronger protection for Sikh Canadian activist Moninder Singh of British Columbia, warning of an “imminent threat” to his life and his family’s — part of a broader pattern of cross-border repression by Indian authorities against Sikh activists. The letter, sent June 3, has gone unanswered by Ottawa; the most recent “duty to warn” letter, from February, described a plan to assassinate Singh, his wife and their two children. For reference, the Modi government still hasn’t acknowledged any role in the assassination of another Sikh activist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
LRT.lt: Lithuania’s innovation funding is patchy and ineffective, audit finds
Lithuania’s National Audit Office has found the country’s innovation-funding system fragmented and ineffective — more than €3 billion was allocated via 174 separate funding measures between 2022 and mid-2025, yet none of the audited projects had received funding at two consecutive stages of development. Of 30 projects reviewed, 27 resulted in a developed or commercialized product, but only one was patented — Lithuania’s patenting rate (45 applications per million people in 2024) still lags far behind the EU average of 152. Auditors recommend replacing the current patchwork of measures with a single integrated support system.
The New York Times: An Invasive Mosquito Is Spreading With Alarming Speed, Threatening Africa’s Cities
An invasive, insecticide-resistant, malaria-carrying mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, which thrives in cities, has spread across Africa faster and further than even pessimistic scientists predicted — new genomic analysis shows mosquitoes found in Africa carry genetic resistance to every chemical currently used in spraying campaigns. The species is especially alarming because malaria, historically not a major urban threat, could now become a serious problem in megacities like Lagos and Kinshasa. In Djibouti, which had just 27 malaria cases in 2012 and was on the cusp of declaring the disease eradicated, cases rose to nearly 1,700 a year after the mosquito arrived, and to more than 70,000 by 2020; Africa recorded nine million more malaria cases in 2024 than in 2023.
Al Jazeera: Photos: Guatemala’s Fuego volcano erupts, forcing evacuations
Guatemalan authorities have declared the country’s second-highest emergency alert after a major eruption of Fuego, Central America’s most active volcano, forcing the evacuation of nearby villages. The eruption intensified on Monday, with lava flows and ash plumes rising some six kilometres into the air. Fuego’s deadliest recent eruption was in 2018, when lava flows killed 215 people, with a similar number left missing.
RFE/RL: Taliban Officials’ Visit To Moldova Triggers Political Storm
A visit by three officials from the Taliban’s unrecognized Agriculture Ministry to Moldova has triggered a political storm. The officials arrived in Chisinau on August 3 after receiving visas following an invitation from private Moldovan companies seeking to export to Afghanistan. That was confirmed by Moldovan official Vasile Sarban, who invited them. Moldova’s Foreign Ministry stated that visas had indeed been issued and stressed there would be no bilateral meetings or official contacts. The government has also launched an investigation into how the visas were issued.