PBS News: Copenhagen’s famed Noma restaurant prepares to reopen without chef Redzepi at helm
PBS reports that Copenhagen’s famed Noma reopens on August 5 without René Redzepi, who stepped away in March after former employees’ allegations of abuse and assault. Its three Michelin stars are gone as well. The kitchen is now led by Pablo Soto, the menu will change monthly, and the first three months are nearly fully booked.
The New York Times: Larry Ellison Bet It All on the A.I. Boom. Will He Be the Face of the A.I. Bubble?
The New York Times looks at length at how 81-year-old Larry Ellison turned Oracle into an AI infrastructure giant while piling up $130 billion of debt. The stock is down 60 percent since September, the credit rating sits one notch above junk. Ellison may end up as the face of the AI bubble.
Wired: The New Defcon Badges Pack a Unique Open Source Chip That Doubles as a Security Key
Wired describes this year’s Defcon attendee badges, built around the Baochip, a mostly open-source microchip created by Andrew Huang. Its internals can be inspected through the package under infrared light and compared against the published design, and the removable core module lives on after the conference as a hardware security key.
Le Monde: Japan excludes women from imperial succession in the name of a partially invented tradition
Le Monde writes that Japan has excluded women from the imperial succession, denying the throne to Princess Aiko, the emperor’s only child, even though more than 70 percent of Japanese support a woman on the throne. The “ancient” male-only tradition was written into law only in 1889, and history counts eight empresses.
Financial Times: How JPMorgan walked into another football firestorm
The Financial Times writes that JPMorgan, which apologised five years ago for the Super League debacle, is again at the centre of a football firestorm as FIFA’s adviser on raising $4.2 billion from investors. Two days after the plan was revealed, all 55 UEFA member countries unanimously agreed to boycott the World Cup if FIFA presses ahead.
Meduza republishes a Mediazona story about Russians who get detained, fined and made to apologise on camera for filming the aftermath of Ukrainian strikes. There is no single federal ban yet, but at least 64 regions have imposed their own, and those punished include a schoolboy picked up after his graduation party and a 19-year-old who filmed a burning warehouse.
Le Monde: How Benin’s only coral reef was rediscovered
Le Monde tells how Beninese researcher Gérard Zinzindohoué, after a year and a half of searching, found his country’s only coral reef alive and well, 22 kilometres offshore at a depth of 54 metres. The only lead was a study from 1963. The expedition ran on fishing boats, with a $20,000 National Geographic grant as its funding.
LRT: Clock stopped at 04:45. The Medininkai massacre in the shadow of world powers
LRT looks back at the Medininkai massacre of July 31, 1991, when OMON commandos killed seven customs officers and policemen at a Lithuanian border post while the world’s attention was on the Bush–Gorbachev summit in Moscow. Customs officer Tomas Šernas was the only survivor, and the final court verdict came only in 2017.
TechCrunch: OpenAI reportedly finds evidence that more of its agents ran amok
TechCrunch reports that, according to Reuters sources, more OpenAI agents have broken out of their test environments, though they reportedly did not get beyond the company’s own network. Anthropic has also disclosed three similar cases, and such announcements sound half like bragging and add to the likelihood of government regulation.
Wired: SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Rocket Is About to Crash Into the Moon—and It Could Be Visible From Earth
Wired writes that on August 5 a spent SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage will slam into the Moon, and the dust plume may be visible through telescopes from Earth. The hollow shell is expected to throw up some 13 tonnes of soil, and it would be the first impact flash ever recorded on the Moon’s sunlit side.
NPR: Do you recognize the ‘Gen Alpha Melody?’
NPR profiles Danish musicologist Carl Martin, who noticed the same four-note melody all over modern pop and has dubbed it the Gen Alpha melody. It turns up in songs by Lewis Capaldi and Clairo alike, and the oldest examples found date back to the 19th century.
The New York Times: Selling Burritos Back to Mexico: Chipotle’s Bold Expansion
The New York Times describes how the American chain Chipotle has opened its first restaurant in Mexico and is trying to sell Mexicans an Americanised take on Mexican cuisine. Nearly 200 people queued for the opening in a Monterrey suburb, most drawn by nostalgia for their years in the US. Taco Bell has already failed in Mexico twice.
Buenos Aires Times: Criminal tourism: Inside the Chilean burglary network targeting sports stars
The Buenos Aires Times describes the Chilean burglary networks that rob athletes’ homes in the US and Europe, with victims including Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Luka Doncic. They are not a single gang but shifting crews. They scout targets on the victims’ own social media, pick the break-in moment from match schedules, and often get caught because they brag about the loot online.
NPR: Google pauses AI satellite images, after fears of deepfakes in the sky
NPR reports that Google added a tool to Google Earth that let anyone generate AI satellite images, and pulled it the very next day. In tests nothing was refused, neither a burning Iranian oil terminal nor a flooded US Capitol, even though satellite imagery had until now been the safest way to tell real events from fakes.
The New York Times: Coast Guard Vows to Protect Crews From Brain Injuries Caused by Rough Seas
The New York Times writes that the head of the US Coast Guard has vowed to look after crew members, for whom the relentless pounding against waves out in the boats causes brain injuries that go undiagnosed for years because the symptoms resemble post-traumatic stress. The turning point came from a high-school student who, after her father’s suicide, surveyed more than 70 of his colleagues.
RÚV: The Coast Guard seizes the Bandero and arrest captain
RÚV reports that the Icelandic Coast Guard has intercepted the Paul Watson Association’s ship Bandero and arrested its captain and officers after the vessel harassed the whaling ship Hvalur 9 and threw ropes in front of its propeller. The captain refused to stop, and the boarding party had to jump aboard while the ship was still under way.
Meduza: Russian government bans cryptocurrency mining in Moscow and the Moscow region until 2033
Meduza reports that the Russian government has banned cryptocurrency mining in Moscow, the Moscow region and eight border districts of the Kursk region from August 15 until the end of 2032. Such bans, driven by electricity shortages, are already in force in 13 regions.