Morning Digest
35 stories from 8 sources, 142 more held back.
It took a bungled kidnapping for Germany’s former spymaster to be charged with espionage and treason, but August Hanning’s ties to Israeli spies and criminals should have set alarm bells ringing in Berlin long ago. Hanning, who led Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) from 1998 to 2005, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with espionage, the disclosure of state secrets, and treason.
Kaja Kallas, the Estonian diplomat and former prime minister currently serving as the vice-president of the European Commission, has shown a deeply confrontational attitude towards Russia and the Russians. It is perhaps worth pausing here to note that this is particularly personal, given her family history.
Colombian nationals fighting for Kiev are being held hostage by the Ukrainian military, the mother of a slain mercenary, Sonia Moreno, has told Ruptly video agency. Men from the South American nation currently make up around half of the estimated 16,500 foreign mercenaries in the ranks of Kiev’s forces, a Russian security source told TASS in June.
The African Union (AU) has called on parties to the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) to respect ceasefire agreements and refrain from actions that could undermine peace efforts, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
MEP blasts ‘Euro-Gestapo’ for lecturing Russia on democracy (VIDEO). Brussels is steering Europe toward totalitarianism and a “Euro-Gestapo” while lecturing Russia on democracy, Slovak MEP Lubos Blaha has warned.
If Lula loses, BRICS could face its biggest political test yet. Flavio Bolsonaro, the right-wing senator and son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, emerged victorious from the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, and commentators now suggest that the incumbent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, may struggle to catch him in the second round.
While much of the focus on humanoid robots has been on entertaining demonstration videos and massive amounts of funds raised, the work of development and finding a value proposition is quietly continuing. How are humanoids progressing from prototypes to mass production? Jabil Inc., a design, supply chain, and manufacturing services provider, offered its perspective.
Helm.ai today said it has signed $70 million in commercial contracts for its foundation models for physical AI over a 12-month period. These contracts spanned global automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and industrial automation companies. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company considers the automotive industry as its flagship deployments, which involve deep partnerships.
The toolchain brings together AWS services and NVIDIA’s Physical AI software stack into a single development workflow. The goal is to address one of the biggest challenges facing companies developing AI-powered robots: connecting the many pieces required to turn a trained model into a system that can reliably operate in the real world.
Global energy company Schneider Electric this week said it will acquire industrial design, engineering, and data management firm PTC Inc. for about $22.6 billion. The Boston-based companies claimed that the combination will bridge the “digital and physical worlds across the lifecycle, from design and build to operate and maintain.”
Teradyne Robotics, a subsidiary of Teradyne Inc. and parent company of Universal Robots A/S, announced the settlement on Oct. 1. The resolution aims to bring the dispute between the parties to a close and reflects their shared interest in avoiding the continued time and cost associated with legal proceedings.
Before we get to the news, help us reach more people by tapping the ❤️ and hitting restack. That’s the best way to ensure these stories break through the algorithm.
Before the news, do us a favor: take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and hit the restack icon. That’s the best way to make sure independent journalism reaches the people who truly need it. Colorado Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx recently bragged about physically abusing his wife and said he’d do it again.
Before the news, help us reach more people by tapping the ❤️ and restacking this newsletter. It only takes a couple of seconds and helps more than you know. Here’s what’s on deck: Texas Republican Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton was caught admitting in a leaked audio recording that Donald Trump’s war with Iran is the single biggest problem for his campaign’s flagging numbers.
Before we get to the news, take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and hit the circular restack button. Those two clicks make sure these stories reach the people who really need to hear them. The same Republicans who once called for their colleague, Congressman Max Miller of Ohio, to resign from Congress over damning domestic violence allegations are now spending millions of dollars to keep him in…
The proposals came Thursday as part of negotiations with the MLB Players Association over a new collective bargaining agreement. MLB also wants to allow higher-seeded teams to choose their opponent both in the wild card and division series rounds of the playoffs. The 154-game schedule would be a return to MLB's calendar prior to 1960, when it was expanded to the current 162-game regular season.
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Longtime Michigan State coach Tom Izzo knows that some think his roster-building strategy is outdated in today's college basketball, but he applies another term to the approach. "I get called old-school a lot; I think it's right school," Izzo said at Big Ten media days. "I have no interest in thinking this is an old-school way of doing it.
Hillier aced the 187-yard par-3 despite the mis-hit and won a BMW iX5 SUV valued at 140,338 euros (about $157,000), according to the European tour. The hole-in-one helped Hillier shoot a 4-under 67 that left him tied for fourth place after Thursday's first round. "It was pretty crazy," the 28-year-old New Zealander said.
Jake Paul has been medically cleared to return to boxing. Paul (12-2, seven KOs), 29, has not fought since he suffered a broken jaw during his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua last December. Paul underwent surgical procedures on his jaw in December and February.
Gianni Infantino faces a clear path toward reelection as FIFA president after Concacaf president Victor Montagliani informed colleagues that he will seek to retain his position with the confederation next year, sources confirmed to ESPN -- a move that will disqualify him from any bid to replace Infantino.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- One of the most gifted young hitters in the Cubs system, Juan Cabada was ready for the challenges that awaited him when he made his U.S. debut this year. Signed for $1.5 million out of the Dominican Republic in 2025, he batted .283/.387/.434 in his first 14 games in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League this May.
Last week, MLB Pipeline revealed its selections for Minor League Hitting Prospect of the Year and Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year during the 2026 MiLB Awards Show on MLB Network. Brewers corner infielder Andrew Fischer won hitting honors after swatting 48 homers, the most in the Minors since 1982.
This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
The proposed loan will build on Wolfspeed’s silicon-carbide technology, intellectual property and manufacturing footprint at its facilities in North Carolina, New York and Arkansas, according to the release.
The survey comes as manufacturers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence and automation to improve various parts of their operations, including predictive maintenance. According to the survey, more than half of maintenance teams said they were using or piloting AI tools to help them do their jobs, and 92% agreed that AI needs “good, complete maintenance data” to work properly.
Anduril intends to gradually scale production once Arsenal-2 begins operations as the defense systems maker builds its workforce, supplier base, infrastructure and production rate required for submarine output. Arsenal-2 will be built on a 187-acre site for “high-volume, high-precision production of undersea naval capabilities.
AI and automation are among the biggest trends in manufacturing. Manufacturers are leveraging newer technologies as a way to bridge the persistent skill gap in the industry, with AI boosting engineering productivity and automation in manufacturing is set to more than double by 2030.
Boston Dynamics, a humanoid and industrial robot maker owned by Hyundai, said it has appointed Rohit Prasad as CEO, effective today. The company hired Prasad for his experience turning physical artificial intelligence breakthroughs into commercial successes.
A hand attached to the end of an arm is a given for most humans, but what if robots didn’t have to play by the same rules as we do? Researchers from ETH Zurich have turned an off-the-shelf robotic hand into a completely self-contained robot that walks on its fingertips while using those same fingers to manipulate its environment.
Download this complimentary White Paper today! This White Paper gives robotics researchers and engineers an overview of a new large-scale motion capture dataset built to close the data gap limiting humanoid robot learning. It also shows how policies trained on the dataset transfer to a real humanoid robot.
I've always been kind of into computers since I was young. And then when film started to move from analog film to digital, I became more interested in that aspect of it. And the visual effects workflow for many years has included machine learning.
As previously promised, here’s Anthropic’s new fast, low cost model: Introducing Claude Haiku 5.5. The previous Haiku, 4.5, was very much showing its age. It came out almost a year ago, and was priced at $1/million input and $5/million output—relatively expensive even back then, and a full 10x the price of OpenAI’s GPT-6 Luna, released last month.
Anti-Patterns in Software Blogging (via) Some excellent writing advice from Michael Lynch. Michael warns against "meandering intros", misjudging your reader's existing knowledge, assuming they'll read your previous posts, and excessive formality. He also warns against overreliance on links as an excuse not to explain terminology.
I was a graph theory junkie long ago and even moved to Budapest for awhile to study among the greats. While I was there I started working on Barnette's Conjecture which came to occupy my thoughts over the next 24 years of my life, on and off as I worked in many different fields. Last summer I even thought for a few days that I had actually solved it.
OpenAI “rogue” agent activities found on Wikimedia projects. Given how tempting a target wikis are for rogue agent swarms, it's not a huge surprise that Wikipedia found evidence of that activity once they went looking:. The Wikimedia Foundation conducted its own investigation to see whether Wikimedia websites had been similarly affected by AI agents, focusing on those operated by OpenAI.
It took a bungled kidnapping for Germany’s former spymaster to be charged with espionage and treason, but August Hanning’s ties to Israeli spies and criminals should have set alarm bells ringing in Berlin long ago. Hanning, who led Germany’s Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) from 1998 to 2005, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with espionage, the disclosure of state secrets, and treason.
Kaja Kallas, the Estonian diplomat and former prime minister currently serving as the vice-president of the European Commission, has shown a deeply confrontational attitude towards Russia and the Russians. It is perhaps worth pausing here to note that this is particularly personal, given her family history.
Colombian nationals fighting for Kiev are being held hostage by the Ukrainian military, the mother of a slain mercenary, Sonia Moreno, has told Ruptly video agency. Men from the South American nation currently make up around half of the estimated 16,500 foreign mercenaries in the ranks of Kiev’s forces, a Russian security source told TASS in June.
The African Union (AU) has called on parties to the conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) to respect ceasefire agreements and refrain from actions that could undermine peace efforts, according to a statement released on Wednesday.
MEP blasts ‘Euro-Gestapo’ for lecturing Russia on democracy (VIDEO). Brussels is steering Europe toward totalitarianism and a “Euro-Gestapo” while lecturing Russia on democracy, Slovak MEP Lubos Blaha has warned.
If Lula loses, BRICS could face its biggest political test yet. Flavio Bolsonaro, the right-wing senator and son of imprisoned former President Jair Bolsonaro, emerged victorious from the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, and commentators now suggest that the incumbent, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, may struggle to catch him in the second round.
The proposals came Thursday as part of negotiations with the MLB Players Association over a new collective bargaining agreement. MLB also wants to allow higher-seeded teams to choose their opponent both in the wild card and division series rounds of the playoffs. The 154-game schedule would be a return to MLB's calendar prior to 1960, when it was expanded to the current 162-game regular season.
ROSEMONT, Ill. -- Longtime Michigan State coach Tom Izzo knows that some think his roster-building strategy is outdated in today's college basketball, but he applies another term to the approach. "I get called old-school a lot; I think it's right school," Izzo said at Big Ten media days. "I have no interest in thinking this is an old-school way of doing it.
Hillier aced the 187-yard par-3 despite the mis-hit and won a BMW iX5 SUV valued at 140,338 euros (about $157,000), according to the European tour. The hole-in-one helped Hillier shoot a 4-under 67 that left him tied for fourth place after Thursday's first round. "It was pretty crazy," the 28-year-old New Zealander said.
Jake Paul has been medically cleared to return to boxing. Paul (12-2, seven KOs), 29, has not fought since he suffered a broken jaw during his knockout loss to Anthony Joshua last December. Paul underwent surgical procedures on his jaw in December and February.
Gianni Infantino faces a clear path toward reelection as FIFA president after Concacaf president Victor Montagliani informed colleagues that he will seek to retain his position with the confederation next year, sources confirmed to ESPN -- a move that will disqualify him from any bid to replace Infantino.
Before we get to the news, help us reach more people by tapping the ❤️ and hitting restack. That’s the best way to ensure these stories break through the algorithm.
Before the news, do us a favor: take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and hit the restack icon. That’s the best way to make sure independent journalism reaches the people who truly need it. Colorado Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx recently bragged about physically abusing his wife and said he’d do it again.
Before the news, help us reach more people by tapping the ❤️ and restacking this newsletter. It only takes a couple of seconds and helps more than you know. Here’s what’s on deck: Texas Republican Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton was caught admitting in a leaked audio recording that Donald Trump’s war with Iran is the single biggest problem for his campaign’s flagging numbers.
Before we get to the news, take a few seconds to tap the ❤️ and hit the circular restack button. Those two clicks make sure these stories reach the people who really need to hear them. The same Republicans who once called for their colleague, Congressman Max Miller of Ohio, to resign from Congress over damning domestic violence allegations are now spending millions of dollars to keep him in…
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- One of the most gifted young hitters in the Cubs system, Juan Cabada was ready for the challenges that awaited him when he made his U.S. debut this year. Signed for $1.5 million out of the Dominican Republic in 2025, he batted .283/.387/.434 in his first 14 games in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League this May.
Last week, MLB Pipeline revealed its selections for Minor League Hitting Prospect of the Year and Minor League Pitching Prospect of the Year during the 2026 MiLB Awards Show on MLB Network. Brewers corner infielder Andrew Fischer won hitting honors after swatting 48 homers, the most in the Minors since 1982.
This story was excerpted from Jordan Bastian’s Cubs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
While much of the focus on humanoid robots has been on entertaining demonstration videos and massive amounts of funds raised, the work of development and finding a value proposition is quietly continuing. How are humanoids progressing from prototypes to mass production? Jabil Inc., a design, supply chain, and manufacturing services provider, offered its perspective.
Helm.ai today said it has signed $70 million in commercial contracts for its foundation models for physical AI over a 12-month period. These contracts spanned global automotive OEMs, Tier 1 suppliers, and industrial automation companies. The Redwood City, Calif.-based company considers the automotive industry as its flagship deployments, which involve deep partnerships.
The toolchain brings together AWS services and NVIDIA’s Physical AI software stack into a single development workflow. The goal is to address one of the biggest challenges facing companies developing AI-powered robots: connecting the many pieces required to turn a trained model into a system that can reliably operate in the real world.
Global energy company Schneider Electric this week said it will acquire industrial design, engineering, and data management firm PTC Inc. for about $22.6 billion. The Boston-based companies claimed that the combination will bridge the “digital and physical worlds across the lifecycle, from design and build to operate and maintain.”
Teradyne Robotics, a subsidiary of Teradyne Inc. and parent company of Universal Robots A/S, announced the settlement on Oct. 1. The resolution aims to bring the dispute between the parties to a close and reflects their shared interest in avoiding the continued time and cost associated with legal proceedings.
A hand attached to the end of an arm is a given for most humans, but what if robots didn’t have to play by the same rules as we do? Researchers from ETH Zurich have turned an off-the-shelf robotic hand into a completely self-contained robot that walks on its fingertips while using those same fingers to manipulate its environment.
Download this complimentary White Paper today! This White Paper gives robotics researchers and engineers an overview of a new large-scale motion capture dataset built to close the data gap limiting humanoid robot learning. It also shows how policies trained on the dataset transfer to a real humanoid robot.
I've always been kind of into computers since I was young. And then when film started to move from analog film to digital, I became more interested in that aspect of it. And the visual effects workflow for many years has included machine learning.
As previously promised, here’s Anthropic’s new fast, low cost model: Introducing Claude Haiku 5.5. The previous Haiku, 4.5, was very much showing its age. It came out almost a year ago, and was priced at $1/million input and $5/million output—relatively expensive even back then, and a full 10x the price of OpenAI’s GPT-6 Luna, released last month.
Anti-Patterns in Software Blogging (via) Some excellent writing advice from Michael Lynch. Michael warns against "meandering intros", misjudging your reader's existing knowledge, assuming they'll read your previous posts, and excessive formality. He also warns against overreliance on links as an excuse not to explain terminology.
I was a graph theory junkie long ago and even moved to Budapest for awhile to study among the greats. While I was there I started working on Barnette's Conjecture which came to occupy my thoughts over the next 24 years of my life, on and off as I worked in many different fields. Last summer I even thought for a few days that I had actually solved it.
OpenAI “rogue” agent activities found on Wikimedia projects. Given how tempting a target wikis are for rogue agent swarms, it's not a huge surprise that Wikipedia found evidence of that activity once they went looking:. The Wikimedia Foundation conducted its own investigation to see whether Wikimedia websites had been similarly affected by AI agents, focusing on those operated by OpenAI.
The proposed loan will build on Wolfspeed’s silicon-carbide technology, intellectual property and manufacturing footprint at its facilities in North Carolina, New York and Arkansas, according to the release.
The survey comes as manufacturers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence and automation to improve various parts of their operations, including predictive maintenance. According to the survey, more than half of maintenance teams said they were using or piloting AI tools to help them do their jobs, and 92% agreed that AI needs “good, complete maintenance data” to work properly.
Anduril intends to gradually scale production once Arsenal-2 begins operations as the defense systems maker builds its workforce, supplier base, infrastructure and production rate required for submarine output. Arsenal-2 will be built on a 187-acre site for “high-volume, high-precision production of undersea naval capabilities.
AI and automation are among the biggest trends in manufacturing. Manufacturers are leveraging newer technologies as a way to bridge the persistent skill gap in the industry, with AI boosting engineering productivity and automation in manufacturing is set to more than double by 2030.
Boston Dynamics, a humanoid and industrial robot maker owned by Hyundai, said it has appointed Rohit Prasad as CEO, effective today. The company hired Prasad for his experience turning physical artificial intelligence breakthroughs into commercial successes.